Ninja and Guardians
by Nemrut
Summary: Phobos was freed by ninja, so it will take ninja to get him back. Watch the Guardians deal with their troublesome enemies and their maybe even more troublesome friends. Naruto W.I.T.C.H. crossover. Most Chapters were partly rewritten.
1. The Escape

As you see, I started a new story, this time a crossover between W.I.T.C.H. and Naruto. Phobos is freed by Sound Ninja and now the respective sides team up to defeat each other.

I just hope this will be more successful then my last story. I am also in search of a beta reader, if there are any interests please contact me. At least I apologize for all the grammatical mistakes I have made and will make; English is not my mother language. And now have fun.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could anyways.

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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana (1863-1952)

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Deep in the old, magical prison of Meridian, the place, where only the vilest creatures were send, was Phobos still a prisoner, like the rest of his servants. The former ruler of Meridian was furiously thinking of a way to escape since Cedric had betrayed and the Guardians had imprisoned him, again, in this hateful place. Oh, how would he enjoy, getting revenge on those fools.

Of course he had to get out of here first, a challenge, as nobody did manage to escape on their own. There had been a few escapes with outside help since, in all fairness, this prison wasn't the hardest place to get in.

In front of the energy bars, a few regular guards, with Vathek, another traitor, in command, were patrolling carefully, not wanting Phobos, or any other of the countless prisoners to escape.

He had to think of a way to leave this dreadful place but the possibilities were limited; the guards weren't the danger here, they were little more than watchdogs, supposed to bark if one of them should escape, furthermore it was the fact that he could not use his powers; Elyon drained them, quite successfully at that, before she locked him up behind those bars, to his joy and desperation, as he was the one who created them to lock away any potentially dangerous enemies. They didn't let him recharge or use any magical powers within. Now he was the one, locket away for his lifetime, a really long and lasting time for someone who was immortal. So he was reduced to glare at the guards from time to time or to think of a way to escape.

He wasn't even sure what to do AFTER an escape either since the last times had proven that his magical powers were no match against his dear sisters. Even though, with full powers, he could stand up against the Guardians; it would be of no use, as he could not take the Heart of Kandrakar with brute force, nor could he think of a way to trick them. Even Nerissa, a person who had mastered deception way better than him, had not succeeded with the task of tricking Will Vendome, the Keeper of the Heart.

It was a shame, he had obtained, trained and mastered the ancient arts of the arcane for hundreds of years and yet was still weak compared to the abilities of his little sister and she had discovered her powers only a year ago. Talent given by birth was really not fair and in Meridian the females of the royal family and the females with magical powers in general had always been in advantage compared to the males.

He needed to gain power. Fast!

But how?

Time would tell and he already had a vague plan, a plan for its execution he would need some help, but fortunately an old friend of him whom he had connected while his short time on earth, alongside with the Guardians, made his promise to help him out of here, should he not get any information within a month.

The month was over since three weeks and Phobos was still in prison. Meanwhile Phobos was sure that his friend had betrayed him, which didn't surprise him much. After all, he thought smiling; people like him weren't the most trustworthy people in the universe. Miranda had betrayed him, he betrayed the Guardians, Cedric had betrayed him and so on.

Loyalty was so rare these times. How he missed those times, where he could trust every single one of his servants, who obeyed him, simply because they didn't dare to betray him. Ahhh, sweet days.

But for now he was stuck in this rotten cell like a common thief, together with the other of his once former minions. Right under his cell were Cedric and Miranda both shapeshifters and traitors. How he would enjoy getting his revenge on them. Cedric, his most trusted servant, somebody whom he had nearly considered as a friend, yet disappointed him at so many times, tried to kill him and get his powers.

Still, Phobos was impressed, Cedric hadn't showed this smarts while working for him, or otherwise the Guardians would have been defeated long ago. He had looked through the plan of the Guardians all along, something he hadn't, to his great shame and displeasure.

A voice interrupted his thoughts and Phobos looked up, only to see into the face of Raythor, the person, who was once a captain of his guard, another man who had betrayed him, fooled him and joined the Guardians.

"Why are you smiling Phobos? Remembering the days when you could just torture innocents?" he asked hatefully, despising the Prince.

"Raythor, Raythor, Raythor. Even if I did dream of such, I think you would call them happy memories, which I can assure you I am not; I would not tell you, would I?"

Raythor snorted. "Oh it must be my mistake. I bet you dream about the times when you gave all children sweets and toys."

Phobos grinned. "You know Raythor, for somebody who betrayed me, you sure are spending much time form my well being. You are even concerned about my thoughts, I knew it all along that you would come to your senses and join me once again."

Raythor looked angrily at the fallen Prince. "You know as much as I do, that I will never join you. I have changed for better. I see you for the worth breaking slime you are. You don't deserve my loyalty!"

Phobos smiled and leaned back to the wall of his cell, his face once more hidden in the shadows. "Keep telling yourself that Raythor. Perhaps you will believe it someday." His voice became hard as steel when he continued to speak mercilessly. "You caused too much damage, you hurt too many people, you have taken too many life's to be one of the "good ones" dear Raythor. You had no qualms working for me for years and now simply because you switched sides at the last minute you claim to be "purified"? "

He paused for a moment and added,

"But your definition of good and evil would interest me anyways."

Raythor gulped, turned around and left the cell, hearing Phobos laughing cruelly.

Taunting the Guards was one of the few sources of amusement he had, next to viciously insulting the Queen, Caleb and the Guardians whenever Aldarn was around, so he could watch the man getting worked off enough to attack him yet having to hold himself back as he had to open the bars first.

Suddenly the gate opened and two hooded people entered the place. The attention of everybody was now at the two and the guards, under Raythor's and Vathek's command, had positioned themselves in a half circle around them.

Vathek started to speak, "If you have come to free prisoners, you have come to the wrong place."

"I don't think so. We have come to free a certain prince, you don't have one here by a chance?" The left one chuckled.

Nobody responded but with a wink of the blue mans bat, everybody charged at the two intruders. The one who had spoken asked the other, smaller one. "I suggest you want to take them?" his companion didn't responded. Instead he disappeared and came out in the midst of the guards. With a round-house kick he hit two of the soldiers and then jumped, just in time, to avoid Vathek's sword. In midair, he grabbed behind and threw something at Raythor. The former captain of Phobos guard blocked them skillfully with his sword, and those projectiles turned out to be shuriken, ninja throwing stars.

"Be careful!" he yelled, now recognizing the class of the intruders "They are ninjas and assassins." The one who did all the speaking was suddenly next to him. His right hand was glowing blue and when he touched the arm of Raythor and his legs with a speed Raythor's eyes couldn't follow, he fell to the ground. (1) A pain went through him like someone had severed his muscles.

While the second intruder just finished of Vathek with an aimed elbow strike, the tall one went to the cage of Phobos and bowed down. "Your highness, our master send us here too free you and bring you to his secret lair."

Phobos was smiling. "Please, go on." The hooded person formed quickly a few hand signs and touched the wall next to the bars, and then the flow of energy stopped. He was watched carefully by every single person in the giant chamber and a silence was there, that you could hear him making those signs.

Phobos, prince of Meridian, tyrant and older brother of Elyon was free once again.

"My, thank you." He stepped out, looking happy, wearing his superior smile, now that he was free again. He turned his head to the cage where Cedric and Miranda were in. In their human forms, they were staring fearfully at him. Both quickly bowed down. "Forgive us, my prince, we…" Cedric was interrupted by Phobos.

"Be quiet Cedric." He silenced the shapeshifter. "I don't want you to ruin my freedom with your insignificant excuses. I will take care of you the same time I am going to free my loyal servants." His voice became louder. "I will free you all, at least the ones who stayed loyal to me."

Many voices with "I was always loyal to you my highness." or "I will fight for you my liege." came from the cells and Phobos calmed them down with a few gestures of his hands. "But unfortunately the guards are already approaching and my energy is not restored, so our escape would be a short adventure. But I will come back, so promises Phobos."

He turned to his saviors. "Bring us out." He commanded. They nodded and right before Drake and several guards could reach them, they vanished, leaving a cloud of white smoke behind.

Drake looked at the mess in front of him and sighted. He turned around to the soldiers, placing his sword back. "You go and tell Queen Elyon and Caleb about this. Phobos has escaped. And you get some healers here fast."

From one of the cells, Frost, the hunter was gloating. "Too bad traitors, Prince Phobos will come and free us. Then he will rule over Meridian again and crush you little insects." Frosts comment was followed by sinister laughter from the prisoners.

Drake ignored them, instead he barked more orders. "After that, double the guards in and around the prison, if Phobos steps in here we have to capture him. We cannot let him free his army again." He turned to Tynar. "You take the command. I am going to Queen Elyon to discuss this situation. It seems that we need the guardians again."

Once again Frost was speaking. "You sure will need them rebel scum. But Prince Phobos will rip their pretty, little wings of."

He was still ignored by the guards, who were hastily trying to get into their respectful positions.

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Outside the prison Phobos and his mysterious saviors were pausing. "We have to go to a certain place first." said Phobos. "But take of your hoods, I like to see the persons face I am talking to." After both ninjas obeyed they revealed a friendly looking face of a young adult, with silver hair, tied up in a ponytail and glasses. On his forehead was a metal forehead protector with a note on it. The other one was a teenage boy, with dark hair, dark eyes and a handsome face. He didn't have a forehead protector but instead wore a stoic expression on his face.

"And you are…"

"Yakushi Kabuto and this is Uchiha Sasuke. Orochimaru-sama has sent us here. We are yours to command, your highness."

Phobos smile widened. Finally somebody who was doing what he was telling them to do. It has been a long time. "Well then. First we have to go to a certain cave." With a wave of his hand a map appeared in the air, showing the cave and its coordinates. "There I can refresh my magical powers to a certain extend. All the time being powerless, you can imagine how unbearable this situation is."

They nodded and with Phobos in the middle they started to travel to the cave. After an hour and several ninja jumps later they arrived at a stone wall and with a wave of his hand a hidden door opened and they entered. The cave was nothing but an ordinary cave with a small water place.

"I see you didn't shrink from any costs to make it his place comfortable." said Sasuke sarcastically.

"It seems so, doesn't it?" replied Phobos lazily. He held up his right hand and a few orange waves came out, putting the cave in a mystic glow for a few seconds. Then suddenly a table, with strange artifacts, several chairs, and other things appeared. Sasuke, whose eyes turned immediately red, looked shocked. _How did he do this? Even while I am checking this with my Sharingan, there is no way to tell where they came from. This is no summon, so what could it be?_

"To save this from discovery I hid those things in time. So nobody could detect them unless they knew **when **to look. It is a complicated spell, a spell which my baby sister has yet to learn, but it is working quite fine." He stripped off his cloak and went into the water.

He felt how his magic started to come back to him, with every passing second. Those little spells had cost him the last bit of his strength. Even though it was nowhere as hard to get things back from time then to hide them, it sure took still a bit of energy. He could regenerate a bit, in this magical water, which was full of life force. He had charged it with it for a time like this and look, it sure came handy.

You sure can never make enough preparations. So Phobos closed his eyes and soon sleep overcame him, to let him have a prison less dream.

Kabuto looked at him and turned then to Sasuke. "He is a most dangerous person, Sasuke-kun, be careful around him. As soon as he leaves that small water place, he will be stronger than us. But we need him to gain more power, to achieve Orochimaru-sama's dream."

Sasuke shrugged, not really caring about Orochimaru's dreams and watched carefully with his Sharingan. If normal persons were a candle with chakra, Phobos was a burning forest. At first he was a small, smoldering flame, then a burning bush and then a fierce inferno. What power, with such power he could sure kill his brother, and get finally his revenge.

"What can you see Sasuke-kun?"

"He has a lot of charka and I couldn't see those things he let appear earlier." Kabuto nodded. "Orochimaru-sama suspected this, that magic is different from our charka and jutsu system. We should wait for the situation to develop." Sasuke didn't respond nor showed with any sign, that he heard him. Kabuto, who was used to this by now, sighted and sat down, to wait for their temporarily, new boss to finish.

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Meanwhile, in the castle of Meridian, Elyon was surrounded by her most trustworthy people. Caleb, the personnel guard, advisor of the Queen and leader of the military forces of Meridian, Julian, head-advisor of the queen and Caleb's father, Aldarn, one of her personal guards and second in charge of the army.

"So my brother has escaped once again. How did he manage that? It is impossible for him to do this on his own."

"It seems that he wasn't alone, two hooded persons helped him. They defeated Raythor, Vathek and six guards. Then they freed Phobos, who promised that he is going to free them all and then vanished."

Elyon looked angry. "We have to find him, let searching troops out."

Caleb interrupted. "Meridian is big and the former members of the Rebellion know how many hiding places there are. For now, all we know is, that we search for three people where at least two of them can cast magic. It should be impossible for the regular guards to find them."

She looked curiously at him. "What do you suggest?"

"We need the Guardians. I know you are strong enough to defeat Phobos on your own, my Queen, but to locate them we will need their assistance. And those two companions of him are not to be underestimated, since they overpowered all guards placed in the prison, and let us not forget that Vathek and Raythor were under them."

Everybody was looking at Caleb, the Queen of Meridian, Elyon, smiled and nodded. "You are right Caleb. Please search Blunk and tell him to call the girls. Drake, you will take over the prison once again and this time, take Sandpit with you. Aldarn, you take over the castle security and Gargoyle."

With a wave of her hand she opened a fold. "Julian, could you please tell the Oracle about the escape of Phobos and the current situation. He knows probably by know, but we should better tell him and the council. Perhaps he can give you some information about those two new buddies of my brother."

The four men bowed and leaved for their respective missions, leaving Elyon alone with her thoughts about her brother. Who were the persons who freed him? What are their plans? She muttered a few words and a bubble appeared in front of her. She concentrated hard on it and after a few seconds, the face of Phobos appeared on it.

He seemed to be asleep but suddenly he opened his eyes and looked right at her, even though he couldn't see her. Phobos smirked, saluted mockingly and with a wave of his hand the image vanished, leaving the bubble useless floating in the room.

Elyon sighted and popped the bubble, looking sad on the ground. I s_hould have known that it wouldn't be that easy. I may be stronger than him, but he has experience which is far greater than mine._

Once again she had to depend on others, much to her pleasure.

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Phobos was looking at Kabuto and Sasuke, who eyed him suspiciously. "Has something happened Phobos-sama?" asked Kabuto.

"My baby sister tried to spy. But don't worry about her. I placed a field over me which will protect us from such spells and sorceries."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You want us to believe you are that powerful?"

"My dear boy, you sure should hold your tongue in line." said Phobos looking at him. Sasuke responded by glaring. He stood up, activating his Sharingan.(copy wheel eye) Phobos looked amazed at those eyes. Orochimaru had once told him about them. They could see through every illusion, understand every spell/Jutsu, and copy it, truly magnificent eyes.

"Prove it." Sasuke said coldly. "Prove that you are the powerful being you claim to be."

Every person in the cave knew why Sasuke was challenging Phobos and the tyrant smirked. "If you wanted to copy my sorceries and spells you just should have asked for it." He left the water place, put on his cloak and looked at Sasuke. "Watch closely and learn kid. With your eyes it shouldn't be that hard."

Sasuke smirked, vanished just to appear behind Phobos and formed some hand seals.

"Fire Release: Giant Fireball Technique" he yelled and a great fireball left his mouth and flew towards Phobos who blocked it lazily with a hand. "Do you think you can impress me with that? The fire guardian would laugh in your face when you would use this attack in front of her."

Sasuke didn't look happy about this statement. In fact, he was fast forming new hand seals.

Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile

This time a long and extremely hot flame came out, taking the shape of the head of a dragon and hit Phobos, surrounding him with flames. When Sasuke stopped the attack, Phobos stood there, yawning, the stones around him were melted and he looked amused. "I must admit that this attack was at least a bit impressive, but yet so boring." Sasuke vanished again and was now above Phobos.

Before he could throw any shuriken or kunai, he was surrounded by a white light which forced his body to the ground, making it impossible for him to move. _Why can't I see through it?_

Phobos had read his mind and spoke with a cold voice. "I am royalty boy, don't you dare question my powers again. Your petty eyes are not able to copy special abilities of families or such, aren't they? And my blood is so special, that your eyes are not nearly good enough to deal with my abilities. Bow down to the power of Phobos." He lifted the spell around Sasuke and started to laugh, his voice sending shivers through Kabuto, making him doubt the decision of Orochimaru, by freeing this guy.

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In Heatherfield Irma Lair, the Guardian with the power over the element of water was yawning right during a very eventful biology lesson, and by very eventful she meant boring as hell. Who could blame a girl who was, by now, used to fight monsters and tyrant and now had to sit through dull biology lessons?

"Thank you Miss Lair, for showing me your almonds. If we ever need some for a demonstration, yours are just fine."

Obviously the teacher could and the whole class burst out laughing while Irma smiled sheepishly. "My almonds are at your service, professor." she replied.

"Cut it off Miss Lair and concentrate on the book. After all, Mendel isn't that boring. Wait until we are going to handle ecology."

"Yeah can't wait for it." After seeing the stern look on the face of her teacher she became quiet and looked at Hay Lin who was snickering. "This is not funny." she whispered.

"You are right. It is hilarious."

After the bell rang Taranee, Hay Lin, Irma met with Will and Cornelia. There was nothing extraordinary to talk about since it had been weeks after the final battle against Cedric and they had analyzed the fight till the smallest detail. Also Guardian duty wasn`t pressing right now, they just had a few minor diplomatic missions on some worlds and those had been really boring. It was like watching grade school kids playing soccer, you didn't have to o anything except yelling a few times not to play so hard.

As such they were talking about regular stuff, like school, boys, shopping, inter-dimensional trading laws, boys, Elyon and the fact that Irma, maybe, slowly started to gain weight, which she declined of course, when suddenly they felt a presence. Now felt was a wrong word. They smelled it.

"Do you smell that?" asked Cornelia, closing her nose with her hand.

"Unfortunately, yes." responded Will, starting to look around to locate the Passling who was most likely the cause for that foul smell.

"Girls, great danger." said Blunk appearing behind a trashcan, apparently not caring the could be spotted by anyone who would pass this spot, although the chances were slim since no one would deliberately come near such a bad smelling place.

"Phobos escaped, queen needs your help. Blunk came to find you."

"Phobos?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"How?"

"Again?"

Taranee, expecting this reaction after she had smelled Blunk, cleared her throat loudlyand ended the whine- festival before it could start. They exchanged glances and Will finally took out the heart, looked around for the last time and opened a fold to Meridian, wishing she could contact Matt but for all they knew, they didn't had the time.

"Ok, then it is time for W.I.T.C.H. again." The other four girls groaned but stepped through after seeing the expression on the face of Will.

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Back in the throne room of Elyon, where she was awaiting the girls and Blunk together with Caleb, she summoned a map of Meridian and marked the areas which were already checked or simple not a possibility.

"Hey girls." She greeted them, while Cornelia pulled her into a hug.

"So Phobos has escaped again?" asked Irma. "This is not a prison, it is a filter."

"Hey, I take offense on that comment. The ones who freed Phobos were apparently some kind of Ninjas, defeated Vathek and Raythor. The muscles in his right arm and in his legs were severed by them. It will take time to heal." complained Elyon.

"The fact, that they defeated Raythor and Vathek in a hand to hand combat means that they are a serious threat." summed up Caleb. "Of course those two are nowhere near my skill, but they are still above average."

"Do you know what we like about you Caleb?" asked Irma, raising an eyebrow.

"It is your modesty." finished Hay Lin smiling.

"Funny, but we have serious work to do."

"He is right." said Elyon. "We have to split up. Caleb you go with Cornelia, Hay Lin and Blunk around Meridian and search for Phobos. You can do your green talking; Hay Lin can hear the sounds and Blunk can smell him. Caleb knows the territory. You four have the biggest chance to track Phobos down. Will, could you and Irma go to the prison too? Drake will help you and the prison will be safe for sure."

Will nodded and Irma looked thoughtful. "What about me?" asked Taranee.

"You stay here with me. Together we will guard the castle and we can contact everybody telepathically. We will act as the connection between the groups. So in every group is someone who can open folds, for a quit exit, so call for reinforcements before attacking Phobos, if you find him, that is. Ok, than please let's start. The sooner we find Phobos and bring him back to prison, the better."

The groups scattered, leaving Elyon alone with Taranee. "Since when are you such a leader?" asked Taranee impressed. "It comes automatically when you are a Queen. Also Caleb and Julian are teaching me a lot."

"Caleb's father was also a leader huh?" asked Taranee, smiling at the thought of a much younger Julian.

Elyon grinned. "Now let's try to build a mental block, to increase our telepathically reach." Taranee nodded and after both girls sat down, their minds connected and they started to search for Phobos' mind.

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Back in Kandrakar Julian was bowing in front of the council. "Your news worries me, my friend. Prince Phobos has escaped once more and is threatening the peace of the universe again. I am afraid that I have more unpleasant news for you."

Julian looked concerned at him. "What can be worse than that Oracle?" he asked.

"The ones who helped Phobos to escape were ninjas form a placed called Hidden Village of the Sound and their leader is a most dangerous person." explained Tibor. "He is a wanted criminal, in his world, and experiments with forbidden techniques and has mastered immortality."

Julian raised an eyebrow. "I know that is something impressive but the whole council of Kandrakar and even Phobos has immortality, so what is so special about that?"

"It is true that we can't die of age my friend, but he hasn't the same power like us. Our bodies simply do not age after a certain point or age really slowly. He on the other hand transfers his mind to another younger body, killing the persons soul in the process and so manages not to die of age. On the top of that he gains the powers of the new body, alongside to his own."

"Is he more powerful than Phobos?" asked a worried Julian, imagining an opponent of greater threat then Phobos and Nerissa.

The Oracle shook his bold head "Not in terms of power, Julian. He doesn't have magical powers like him but instead very high skills as a ninja. He alone could defeat armies. Also, he has a way of gathering loyal servants. He and the most other ninjas are attacking at such high speed that normal magic users simply wouldn't have the time to defend themselves but still magic lies within in a greater dimension."

"So what are we going to do? Queen Elyon, the Guardians and Caleb will surely be able to defeat him."  
The Oracle shook his head sadly. "I am afraid that we need fire to fight the fire."

"What do you mean Oracle?" asked Luba. "Do you want to say we should call for ninjas?"

"Are you questioning my decisions Luba?" asked the Oracle, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry Oracle, but how do we know we can trust those assassins? In my experience people in that particular field aren`t really trustworthy persons as they tend to break their promises for their personal gain.

"Yes, but I think I am a good enough judge of people and hat my trust will not be betrayed by those I want to contact." He looked at two people in the room. "Yan Lin, you will go to the world of the ninjas and call for help. Julian, return to the Queen and tell her that help is on his way."

They nodded and behind them two folds opened.

"So let's see if they have some good tea there, I made it a habit to test the tea of every world I go to." joked Yan Lin and entered the left fold while Julian stoically the right one.

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Back on Meridian, Caleb's group had no luck. Cornelia and Hay Lin were in deep meditation for three hours now and none of them had found a trace of Phobos. Caleb was sitting next to Blunk and he was sighting for the thirty-fourth time, in the last thirty minutes.

"I always thought that earth girls were fast with communication." He muttered. A small stone hit him on the head and he looked at Cornelia, who apparently had heard him and obviously was quite angry.

"Tell you what, rebel boy, why don't you use your plant communication technique and search for Phobos?"

Caleb laughed nervously, knowing he just should have kept his big mouth shut.

"Let's search at another place." said Hay Lin, not really caring for Caleb's and Cornelia's antics tight now, grabbed Blunk and flew of, followed by Cornelia who indeed was ignoring Caleb. The Rebel leader jumped up, protesting but could only see after them.

Right now he wasn't sure what felt worse, being left alone by your angry girlfriend in the middle of nowhere or being laughed at by Blunk.

As he saw them disappearing out of sight and he still could hear Bunks laughing he decided it was latter.

He sighted and started his one hour walk back to the palace, which was more than fifteen kilometers away.

When the girls arrived in the castle two hours later, a surprised Elyon awaited them. "Did you find them and where have you left Caleb?"

Cornelia snorted. "He wanted to walk."

Elyon giggled and knew instantly that the former rebel leader had done something stupid to anger her best friend and she had left him there to walk back alone.

She didn't even need to use her telepathic abilities for that. With a wave of her hand she teletransported Caleb back to the throne room. After knowing Caleb that well, it was quite easy for her to locate him telepathically, being used to his "wavelength" as she would put it jokingly.

"I see you wanted to walk Caleb?" she asked amused.

"Yes my Queen, I fancied a walk." He answered dryly, knowing it would be best to play this down instead of ignoring it. They would mention it often enough from now on, so he might better get used to it. He would never understand girls anyway.

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Sasuke had recovered from the fight against Phobos, at least physically. His pride was still smashed and it would take a long time for him to regain it. The guy on his back was weakened, exhausted, being held a prisoner for months and still able to dodge,( or block as he still wasn't sure what exactly he did) his attacks like nothing.

How could he kill his brother when he couldn't even lay his fingers on a guy like that? Now, they were moving again and he had to carry this spoiled prince, who just seemed to enjoy bragging, about how weak he, Sasuke, was or how honored he should feel that he was allowed to carry that so almighty Prince and so on.

Normally he wouldn't care but this guy had a way to annoy him. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was the arrogant smirk on his face or his voice filled with sarcasm and glee. It was probably both and he just hated it.

Phobos had his own reasons to annoy Sasuke. Sure it was fun but he had to use quite the magic back then to dodge the second attack and even if he was weakened, a brat like him shouldn't be able to have such strength. So he would show him that no one messes with a Prince and gets away with it.

But mostly, because it was fun.

He had to rest an hour before they could leave the cave. Phobos wasn't so sure about leaving the cave or to hide them back in time but he decided against it. Instead he let the ninjas bury those things, so he wouldn't have to use magical energy unnecessarily

"Phobos-sama." said Kabuto who was running next to them. Phobos was amazed by the display of physical strength those two showed. They ran now for at least forty minutes at high speed and they didn't even showed any sign of being tired. And Sasuke, the younger one was even carrying himself.

Kabuto looked at the newly freed Phobos. "Are you able to open a fold?"

The Prince shook his head "Unfortunately no, for that task I would need a certain artifact or the power of a heart."

"This is bad, so we will have to wait at the spot for two days. That was the time Orochimaru-sama wanted to arrive. There is a lake similar to that in the cage, so you can regenerate and recover while waiting for Orochimaru-sama."

Phobos nodded. "So you are basically saying that we rushed from the safe cave for nothing?" "No, that place was too close to the castle and sooner or later the Queen would have found us."

Sasuke was silent. He had his own thoughts circling at the moment. If this Queen was even stronger than Phobos and that those Guardians would be only slightly weaker than the Prince, how could he hope to compare with that? He needed to get stronger soon. Even though he could now go level two of the cursed seal easily and he deliberately hadn't used it against Phobos, it was clear for Sasuke that Phobos hadn't been on his full power too.

Phobos continued to talk. "So what are you two going to do while I will be in a regenerative sleep?"

"Protect you with our life's, Phobos-sama." replied the medical genius, pushing up his glasses.

The former ruler of Meridian smirked. "I would have expected nothing less."

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Tbc…


	2. The First Clash

Wow seven reviews, I didn't expect so many. I am glad you liked it

amyltrer : Thank you, We will know more about Orochimaru's plans soon but not know. And about Sasuke, he wants to gain power to kill his brother. The moment he achieved that, the power he has then will be more then enough for him, but he wants this power fast. Orochimaru instead wants to be all powerful and invincible. So Sasuke seems a bit impatient against him, but Orochimaru is in real more power hungry.

Ariana T.: Thanks to you too, I hope you will like this chapter as well.

Sabaku no Yumi : Like your name. Thanks for your compliments and to answer your question, yes Naruto is away at the moment, training with Jiraya but who knows, perhaps the number one loudest unpredictable ninja of Konoha will make an entrance?

carrie : Thank you, here is the next one

z-nadka-zak: Thanks for your review and I believe it is both, it has his comic books and is a TV Show, the cartoon. I am mostly orientating after the TV Show, I didn't read many comics of W.I.T.C.H.

DayDreamer9: Thank you and I apologize again for the mistakes, I am not really famous for my flawless writing style

Guardian's Light: Sorry again for the countless mistakes but I am glad you liked it.

And now we will continue with the story

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could anyways.

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When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.

**Quintilian**

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Three days later

In the middle of a Forest, right in front of a strange building, four Ninjas were doing seals for an hour now and they were supported by six other ninjas, who would constantly let their own charka flew into them. Every single one of them wore a sound forehead protector and had the cursed seal activated. The four doing the seals were even at level 2. One of them, with long messy hair ran to a chamber where Orochimaru, a member of the sannin, one of the three ninja of legends and traitor of Konoha was waiting for his minions to finish the summoning. (1)

The pale looking missing nin was looking at a scroll when the door opened and his subordinate arrived.

"Orochimaru-sama, they are almost finished." Informed him the sound nin eagerly.

"I see." Orochimaru licked his lips and walked outside just in time to see the four stopping and suddenly a blue fold opened in front of them.

The four with level two of the cursed seal changed back to their normal form and collapsed, exhausted of their immense chakra loss. Healers ran to them and they were given a fast treatment, consisting of a bit charka transfer an a few soldier pills.

"How is their condition?" asked Orochimaru, not really caring for there welfare. Still, he wanted them to be alive, at least for a while longer. It would be difficult to find suitable replacements. It was hard enough to replace likes of Sakon and Tayuya but the loss of Kimmimaru was a real pity.

"Like the last time, they are only exhausted and low on charka. They should be able to fight properly tomorrow again. The rest is ready, Orochimaru-sama." The leader of the sound village nodded and looked at the fold in front of him.

"It wasn't faster then last time. It seems you really need an hour to open a fold between Meridian and our World." He started walking towards the fold. "Follow me, you can regenerate on the other side, this thing won't be open all day. We have to hurry; it is not polite to let a prince waiting after all."

He chuckled when he stepped trough the fold. This would turn out most amusing indeed.

Nobody responded but twenty ninjas followed him through the fold. Orochimaru and a large squad of sound ninja had just invaded Meridian.

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Three hours later

Caleb and ten of his men were walking fast through a forest, not far from the palace. After the issue with Cornelia he didn't wanted to be near the Guardians, so he chose to do some searching with the regular guards.

He didn't expect to find Phobos but everything was better then staying there and being the target of a Cornelia with bad mood, well it was always a bad idea of being a target of Cornelia, regardless of her mood.

Of course the girls were back in their world, but there was always the danger of coming back any second, and he had enough experience off being caught off guard.

So the searching party was out for several hours now and Caleb knew that they have been followed. He constantly looked around until one of the guards finally asked. "Sir, is something wrong?"

"I think someone is watching us." responded Caleb unsure. "But I can't see anyone."

The Guard laughed. "Nobody could stalk us without being noticed. I mean we are all veterans of the time of Phobos, even if we were on different sides."

Caleb didn't answer, but continued to look around, while they were walking in the direction of several purple colored trees, their destination since he was aware of their observers. _Nearly there._

When they reached the trees, Caleb suddenly moved, picked up a stone and hurled it right at a certain plant on a tree. The plant he hit was a rather interesting plant. Being part of the family of the symbiotic plants, it grew on that purple trees and feed of their water and fruits. In exchange it ate all the potential enemies, who would come near the tree, like poisonous plants, bugs, small animals, big animals and of course humans.

In this case the potential enemies were five ninja, who wore the forehead protector of the hidden Village of Sound. So ranks wrapped around two of them and before they could react the poison on the ranks had numbed the ninjas and it slowly started to devour them.

The three who could escape, were now standing in front of the small group, glaring at Caleb who had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"The fauna here can be rather aggressive. You should be careful." The one in the left pulled out a few shuriken, the two others followed his example, and had exact the same glare on their faces.

"Let's see if you can keep that cocky grin of yours after we are finished with you."

"You shouldn't worry about me; I am not the one standing in front of a Korlik nest."

Before either of them could ask what a Korlik was, small, mice like creatures started coming out of a small hole which had the form of a square. The Korlik were six cm big, mice like creatures, with three tails and catlike ears. Like most of the animals living in this part of Meridian they were of course extremely dangerous.

The ninja in the middle had a bit more distance to the hole and managed to jump away but his companions weren't that lucky. They were bitten before they could react and dropped to the ground, not able to move.

More and more Korlik came out of the hole until both ninja were entirely covered, their bodies disappeared from sight, looking light a huge grey mess.

"Sneaky little beasts but like the most creatures here, they are very poisonous. One bite and you can't move, two bites and you are in a coma like state and three or more, well you can guess."

The last ninja was furious. "I WILL AVENGE MY COMRADES!" he yelled and threw his shuriken. Most guards were able to avoid them, but unfortunately not all.

Caleb drew his sword and went for a strike but the enemy vanished, appearing in the middle of the guards, starting to slaughter them left and right with two kunai.

Caleb's eyes became big when he saw his friends and subordinates die in front of his eyes. "MOVE!" he yelled and charged at the ninja. His target smirked and blocked the sword with his kunai.

"Angry that I killed your precious little friends? Don't worry three of them are still alive." His grin widened. "I hope you noticed the keyword still."

The ninja, Yamada Takato, jumped back, avoiding any holes or suspicious places, and prepared him self for the next attack.

"You don't stand a chance against me, the only reason you took out my comrades was you having the advantage of our surroundings and knowing the landscape. I must say that I am impressed. It was us who wanted to ambush you, but without us noticing you noticed us and lured us in a trap."

Even though he was right Caleb was not going to tell him that. "So you already search for excuses for your failure. Come on and face me. I didn't fight my whole life for freedom to be killed from someone like you."

"Pff, as I would care why you lived so far." He quickly started to form some hand seals. He held out two of his fingers and concentrated his charka. A small tornado formed on his fingers, taking the form of a blade. "Blade of Wind, (2) it ends now, this attack can not be stopped."

He launched forward and Caleb tried to block but the blade of wind went trough the sword, without damaging it, while Caleb had not so much luck. It caused him a wound across the stomach, still he was used worse.

Takato was grinning now. "So it seems to end. I already told you it can't be blocked, this wind blade of mine." His grin widened. "Ready to die?"

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A few minutes before that Matt Olsen, the lead singer of the group "Wreck 55", boyfriend of Will Vendome and more importantly one of the three Regents of Earth was walking fast towards the woods in the outer part of Sheffield.

On his shoulder was his pet dormouse Mr. Huggles, also one of three Regents of Earth. Some people might find it odd that one third of the greatest magical sources of earth was held by a dormouse but after you realize that the third one is a talking cat, you might get used to it.

Ignoring the fact that many heads turned around to look at the guy with the Mouse on his shoulder, they continued walking. The curious looks stopped when he disappeared in the forest and after a few minutes he took a ring out of his pocket.

_Let's see, Will gave me the mage ring, so I can open folds to Meridian. I hope I will have a better aim then she had the first time or I'll end in some lone forest._

A fold opened in front of him. "Let's go Mr. Huggles. I hope we will turn out in the castle." o_r at least not in a swamp._

When he stepped out of the fold he realized that he didn't come out in a swamp, unfortunately it wasn't the castle either. "So Mr. H, where the heck are we now?" The little Mouse didn't answer but shuddered, jumped from his shoulder and ran off.

"Mr. H, oh man and I so hoped he was over this running away phase." Matt ran after his pet and after a few minutes he found him covered behind a tree watching Caleb fighting some weird guy.

So that was the reason he ran off. "Good job Mr. H. I guess it is time for us to interfere." Both started to glow in a silver blue light and their bodies changed. Both grew taller and muscular, but while Mr. Huggles transformed into an animalistic beast with clothing Matt changed into a man, who wore a green vest, black pants a golden mask had black wings and a black tail. His hair was also black and resembled the hair of Medusa, but only his weren't snakes. On his arms were metal plates, shielding them and his voice became deeper, mature, more intimidating.

Khor and Shagon, two of the most feared beings had returned, but now they had other, more friendly personalities, which was completely understandable since their minds belonged to a fifteen year old boy and an dormouse with a nearly human like intellect.

Exactly when the foreign ninja was about to strike Caleb with his wind blade for the second time, he was hit by a green blast and was sent flying into a tree.

Caleb looked surprised and relived at the same time. Looking at Matt who landed right in front of him he stood up and laughed, still clutching his wound. "Are you my searching party?"

Matt shook his head. "No, just found you by luck. My destination was to fold to the castle and here I am."

"You missed it by several kilometers." grinned Caleb, but turned his attention to the ninja again.

"Who the hell are you, damn bastard." hissed the now slightly injured sound ninja. Matt flapped one last time with his wings before adjusting them on his back in their normal position.

"Nobody, nobody at all, I am just your regular guy with wings."

"Don't be so arrogant, I can still take both of you out." sneered Takato

"Now don't talk so harshly." replied Matt amused. "You will only upset Mr. Huggles."

Before the man could ask who this Huggles was, two arms wrapped around Takato and lifted him. "What the…"

_He sneaked up on me? What the hell..._

"See, you already upset him. Perhaps you should apologize?" suggested Matt.

"How dare you… how dare you mock me?" his face was red from anger and humiliation. "I WONT HAVE IT!" By using a massive amount of charka he was able break the iron grip and he kicked Huggles to send him flying. Then he stormed right at Matt and Caleb while avoiding the green beams of the former knight of destruction.

Seeing that this guy was to fast to be hit Matt rose to the air making it difficult for Takato to reach him, but being a ninja he immediately went for the second target, Caleb.

_Oh shit, this can't be good._ Matt concentrated and suddenly Caleb was shortly surrounded by a green ring and transformed into a stone. While this was a glamour spell, for Takato it looked like a body replacement technique. (3)

He stopped and looked around. "So you can use ninjutsu (ninja techniques) too? You winged bastard are sure full of surprises."

Matt had enough from this guy, not alone he didn't shut up, but he was also a great threat for them. Caleb couldn't stay under the glamour spell all day and he wasn't fast enough to hit him with his green blast, let with his fists.

While Matt doubted their chance of winning, Takato did the same. He fought against a monstrous beast with inhuman strength, a wounded tactical genius whom he couldn't track down at the moment and a flying guy who could shoot green beams and had probably other techniques in his sleeve.

"We will meet again." And after a few hand signs he vanished in a small cloud of smoke. (4)

Matt sank to the ground and the glamour spell lifted from Caleb. "Puh, and I thought this was the end."

He looked at Caleb and saw that he was bleeding and he realized now the corpses lying around in their pool of blood. The shock caused Matt to transform back and throw up.

Caleb sighted looking concerned at the teenager who just had his first experience with death.

Checking up on the wound on his stomach he wasn't so sure, that he would make it to the castle either…

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Outside of a small cave Kabuto was looking at Sasuke who was furiously punching a tree. "Who does he think he is? Treating me like a stupid child."

"Please calm down, Sasuke-kun. Phobos-sama is not someone you should fight with." Tried the medic nin to calm down the young Uchiha. _As a matter of fact he is one of the last persons I want to fight _

"I think I am a prince, while you are an insolent child with a huge complex." Sasuke turned around, red eyes glaring at Phobos who just came out of the cave.

"You…"

"You would do well when you could behave, do you always talk that way to your superiors?"

_Actually that's exactly what he does. Sasuke-kun sure has a lack of social abilities. But Orochimaru-sama didn't want him because he had good manners. _

"Please do not provoke him Phobos-sama. If we run into an enemy this anger could lead to defeat." Phobos and obviously Sasuke didn't listen.

_Great, even a genin could track down that killing intent. _

Sasuke immediately started to form hand signs but Kabuto moved faster then him and grabbed a hand. "Please do not use any jutsus. We are in the territory of the enemy and they search for us."

Sasuke didn't reply but shook Kabuto off and walked away, after a last glare at Phobos.

"Nasty little temper he has there." Phobos smirked at Kabuto, who frowned at this.  
"Phobos-sama we are here to protect and serve you. Please do not insult Sasuke-kun like that."

"Do you want to tell me what to do?" asked Phobos, his voice becoming a whisper. "Do you really thing I would listen to your commands? I do not listen to children, boy."

Kabuto was concerned. This guy was not someone to mess with and was sure unpredictable. "Of course not Phobos-sama, please forgive me, but you have to understand, that Sasuke-kun is not a very stable person."

"Do you think I didn't notice that? It is this nasty little seal of Orochimaru." Kabuto looked at him, not sure to be surprised by his good observation or by this knowledge of the cursed seal.

"Y..Yes, may I ask how do you know about the cursed seal?" Phobos grinned and turned away to look at Sasuke who was sitting on a tree, looking out for potential enemies.

"You may not but I will still tell you. It is really simple, Orochimaru told me."

Kabuto already suspected this, but it didn't make any sense. Why would Orochimaru-sama tell Phobos about one of his most secret techniques? He could only thing of two options. Either Phobos helped Orochimaru to create it, which was unlikely or Orochimaru needed help at some point.

This Phobos was far too much informed about the ninja and Orochimaru-samas plans. He would have to make sure that he doesn't disturb them. After all Orochimaru was his only way to achieve his goals. At least at the moment, only time would tell what his next steps would be.

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"Could you shut up already?" asked a very annoyed Irma. "I mean, even for a nine year old you behave like an idiot."

"And could you perhaps listen to me?" responded an equally annoyed Christopher Lair, younger brother of Irma. "You are supposed to help your younger sibling."

"You are not a sibling, you are a brat!" argued Irma, hoping that his conversation would be over soon.

"Funny, I was about to tell you the same thing." Irma was now clearly angry. Her littler brother not only walks into her room, talking about strange persons jumping from roof to roof and expecting that she would believe him, no now he insults her as well.

"Get out, do you really thing I would believe that you just saw some guys jumping from roof to roof? So what, even I can jump from roof to roof, they are not that separated from each other."

"I mean they jumped over a few roofs at once, like 10 meter with each jump."

"I think you just read too many comics, how about something normal to do, like shut up and go to your room."

Christopher knew that his sister would not listen to him at this point. He glared at her for one last time, left the room and shut the door with such force that her mother asked them if everything was alright.

"Damn brat." muttered Irma. She knew Chris was just trying to mess with her. He had to, nobody, who was born at earth could do that, but Mr. Huggles, in his morphed form, as Khor. And there was no way something else could have come here. Only the Oracle, Elyon, Will with the heart, Matt with the ring and Blunk with the tooth could open folds.

Phobos was free for three days now, but there was no way he could have come here, was there?

Still not sure what to think, she grabbed her coat and left the house, to meet with Hay Lin and the others.

She could discuss this with them before jumping into conclusions; after all they were a team, a really good team. Yup, they were defiantly the best there, after all in this team was the best Water Guardian known to Kandrakar. At least Irma thought so and who would disagree? Except Cornelia, that is.

After a few minutes she was in the center of the town Heatherfield. Looking around she noticed nobody jumping from roof to roof. It would have surprised her, if she actually had seen someone.

Suddenly she saw Christopher across the street, waving at her. Irma was clearly surprised. She had left her home earlier then Chris, so how was he faster then her?

She started to walk towards him, but when she reached the place where her little brother was standing, he was already gone. She saw him at the corner and this time she ran towards him, confused about his strange behavior.

This was better not a prank or he would seriously regret it.

After ten minutes of chasing, Irma was in a deserted alley, where Chris was standing in front of a dead end.

"Chris, what is the meaning of this? Why are you behaving so strange?" Irma's voice was full off concern and she was really worried now.

"I am sorry to disappoint you." began her brother but with a "puff" he was surrounded by smoke. (5) After the smoke cleared a strange figure was standing in front of her. He wore green trouser, blue sandals and a coat, covering his mouth. His eyes couldn't be seen because of his sunglasses and on his forehead was a forehead protector with a strange symbol. His hair was messy and brown but she could see that this guy was dangerous.

"But I am not your brother." Irma was shocked, really shocked. Some weird guy had imposed as her brother and was now standing in front of her. The really strange thing was that this was not a glamour spell. 

Remembering the story about the ones who had attacked Caleb and Matt and had freed Phobos, this had to be some ninja trick.

"You are a ninja." stated Irma, preparing herself for battle. She knew that without going guardian she was not on her full power but perhaps it would be enough to deal with him or at least hold him off until the others arrived.

The strange person in front of her nodded. "Correct, and I, Aburame Shino, challenge you, Irma Lair, the Water Guardian to a battle."

"You know, that this is a strange way to chat up a girl." Irma, next to mocking her opponent, was furiously thinking about Taranee, hoping she would read her mind.

Shino didn't respond and stared at her with a stoic expression. "But if you ask so nice, how could I decline?" Without warning she fired a steam of water at him, hoping to catch him off guard.

The steam hit Shino but there was another puff and instead of him there was a bin now.  
_How did he do that?_

Suddenly Irma heard his voice behind her. "You shouldn't attack a ninja directly." She turned around immediately only to see the most creepy thing in her whole life. She didn't doubt that this will stay being the creepiest thing in her life.

From three holes on his cheek, bugs started to crawl around, covering more and more of his face and clothing.

Out of reflex she made a step away from him, resisting the urge to scream.

"Wha… What are these things? What are you?" stuttered Irma, eyes widened.

"I am a ninja from the Aburame Clan, and I can control these Kikaichu, you would call them destruction bugs, and that is what they are. (6) They feed on the enemies energy, may it chakra or magic."

_This guy totally freaks me out, letting insects living under his skin? Next time I will believe Chris._

Again Irma tried to hit him with water but his time, he let the bugs form a shield which blocked the water.

_This doesn't look good; I only hope the others will come soon.   
_

As if Shino had read her mind, he destroyed that hope. "Your friends are busy with my friends at this moment. You should better think of a tactic to defeat me on your own, there will be nobody to save you."

_Crap_

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Taranee was facing a shinobi too, being lured out with the same trick as Irma, only the guy in front of her had morphed into her older brother.

While she was thinking rapidly to find a way to get out, it was clear for her, that there was no way to escape. From the information she got from Vathek, Caleb and Matt she knew that those ninja were a lot faster then her.

Even though this one seemed most unmotivated, she was sure that she could not escape by running. Flying wasn't an option either since she wasn't transformed, but even if she was, people could see her.

Fighting was the only option and yet she was less powerful in this state. Her opponent, a guy with a messy ponytail, earrings, a green vest, some shaggy pants and a forehead protector on his left arm had introduced himself as "Nara Shikamaru" and didn't seemed like the type who played with his enemies.

"What do you want?" hissed Taranee, concentrating a fireball in her left hand.

"Simple" Shikamaru yawned. "It is troublesome but I am going to fight you, Taranee Cook, the Fire Guardian." _What a drag, I am going to fight a woman again, knowing my luck she will be loud and bossy too._

"So you want to fight me? Think you can take the heat?" Taranee shot the fireball at him who simply avoided it. The fireball hit the wall behind him, lighting up the ally and increasing his shadow.

The first second it seemed normal to Taranee, with light behind, a shadow will grow. The next second was another story. Even though the fire was away the shadow didn't stop growing and before Taranee could do anything, his shadow had connected to hers and she was not able to move anymore.

"The Shadow Imitation Technique is a success." (7) said Shikamaru in a bored voice. "You should think of a way to defeat me, your friends are quite busy at the moment. I am sure they could use your help."

Taranee simply glared at him, flames dancing on her glasses. _I knew it, I knew it. She just had to have a bad temper._

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Cornelia was staring with disbelief at the, well tummy, guy in front of her, who was wearing strange clothes and an underwear like garment on the head. First he had lured her out, with imposing as Lillian and after that he didn't say anything, only stiffing chips into his mouth.

"Who the heck are you and why did you transform into my little sister?" to say that Cornelia was angry was the understatement of the century.

"The name is Akimichi Choji, from the Akimichi Clan and I am here to challenge you, Cornelia Hale, the Earth Guardian, to a fight."

_She sure looks like Ino._ Thought Chouji while eating chips. _Let's just hope she doesn't have her temper too._

"Well, look, are you sure to challenge me? I mean, I am a guardian after all."

"Worry for yourself, the faster you defeat me, the faster you can help your friends."

Cornelia, even though she didn't show it very often, was very caring towards her friends. "Listen tubby, if you don't get out of my way, I will beat you senseless.

Choji sighted, no luck there, she was just like Ino. But did she call him tubby?

"What… What did you call me?" he asked, eying her suspiciously. "I didn't understand it."

"I said: Tubby, get out of my way!" hissed Cornelia, being annoyed to be threatened by a such a round boy. Suddenly he started to yell. "I AM NOT FAT! I AM BIG BONED!"

Cornelia shrieked and made a step back. Chouji formed a seal "Multi-Size Technique" (8) He became slightly bigger and rounder, still glaring at her. Nobody called him tubby and get away with it.

Then his arms, legs and head disappeared in his body and he started to roll. Now a boulder like Chouji rolled directly at Cornelia, trying to smash her. (9)

Cornelia shrieked and reacted immediately. Ranks came out of earth and tried to wrap themselves around Chouji, but the rotation was too fast. The ranks were ripped of and Cornelia could just jump away in the last second. The Akimichi boy hit the wall instead, destroying it in the progress. He turned back to normal.

"Think fast to defeat me, after all you are alone."

Cornelia gulped, it was clear that she had underestimated that boy because of his looks and was now paying for it.

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Hay Lin wasn't tricked like the others, but had to encounter an enemy in a different way. A shy looking suddenly had appeared in her basement where she was supposed to meet the others and was now confronting her.

"Who are you?" asked Hay Lin, eying the girl. "M-m-my name is Hyuuga Hinata, from t-the Hyuuga Clan a-a-and I want to challenge you, H-h-hay Lin, the Air Guardian to a fight."

This couldn't be true, in front of her was this shy stuttering girl, challenging her to a fight. That girl even knew of her Guardian powers.

But the most mysterious about this girl were her eyes. White, lavender colored, pupil less eyes; if this girl hadn't managed to get here unseen, she would have thought that she was blind.

"You want to what? Why?"

"I-I-I am sorry, but it is an order. Please pre-prepare yourself." Suddenly the veins on her temples bulged and pupils were finally appearing in her eyes. (10)

Hay Lin shuddered. _Those eyes, they seem to see everything._

With a last apologetic look Hinata charged at Hay Lin, who could avoid the first attack. Then she turned invisible, hoping this would be enough to hide from her. This was the part when the Byakugan came into play. Even though Hay Lin was invisible for the rest of the world she was not for a Hyuuga. 

"M-m-my eyes can see everything, th-th-there is no point turning invisible against me." stuttered Hinata. Hay Lin tried a different strategy. She tried to hit her with air waves but every time Hinata could avoid it.

It sure didn't look good for Hay Lin. "I-I-if you can't defeat me you can't h-h-help your friends as well."

It really didn't look good.

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_I am so going to regret this once the others find out._ thought Matt, when he saw the blond girl in front of him grinning.

After the daily rehearse with his band, this girl had shown up. At first there was a great similarity to Cornelia but on the second glance you could see several differences. 

She came shyly to him, saying that she was new in town and if he was so friendly to show her the way to a certain place. Being the gentleman Matt was, he accepted and brought her here.

If he hadn't spend so much time thinking about the girls attitude and appearance he might have wondered what a girl would want out in the woods.

He really was going to regret this.

Right after they had arrived there, the blond girl with the ponytail and the purple white outfit saw him into his eyes and smirked. Suddenly her character had totally changed from shy and helpless to confident and strong.

She said that she hadn't introduced herself. Now Matt was looking at her, not knowing what to expect. There were only two things he was sure of; first this girl couldn't be up to good and second he was really sooooo going to regret this if Will ever found out.

"It was really rude from me not to introduce myself, but it was also rude from you not to ask." Before Matt could respond she continued to talk. "My name is Yamanaka Ino from the Yamanaka Clan." Suddenly there was a "puff" and on her belly appeared a forehead protector with the symbol of Konoha, of course unknown to Matt. "I am a kunoichi of Konoha and I challenge you, Matt Olsen, a regent of earth to a fight."

"Wow, wow, wow. Stop there. You are a ninja?" asked Matt surprised.

"Yes and if you don't want to die, I would advise to fight me properly, don't let my gorgeous face fool you." Ino smiled sweetly while she pulled out several kunai and threw them at him, but with less power, so that Matt could avoid them.

"I don't like fighting girls, but it seems you leave me no choice." Once again Matt glowered blue and silver and transformed in his Shagon form.

"Really impressive." commented Ino. "Like your chest."

"Thanks" smirked Matt. "Like yours too."

At this Ino was annoyed. "Guess you are a pervert too. At least I don't have to regret killing you." Now she grabbed really fast two kunai and hurled them at Matt, who barely avoided them.

His face started to glow green and he fired blast after blast at Ino, but she managed to dodge them by jumping from tree to tree, Matt flying after her.

She started to form hand seals and stopped to turn around. This was the moment Matt had waited for and he hit her with his green beam.

The reaction he got was not what Matt had expected. Instead that she fell to the ground or something, white smoke appeared and there was a log instead.

"Damn, I hate those ninja tricks."

"Too bad." came her voice behind him. Matt turned around. "I can't spare you from one more."

With her hands she formed a rectangle. "Ninja Art: Mind Body Disturbance Technique" (11)

Suddenly he couldn't move his body. Instead it moved on his own, landing slowly on the ground. In front of him were handcuffs Ino had placed there. He picked them up and bound his hands on his back.

Ino smirked at him. "OK jerk, let's see how you get out of this. And if you beat me, perhaps you could help your friends."

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Will Vendome, Keeper of the heart of Kandrakar was confronting her opponent on the backyard of her school. At this time, nobody was here, and she had some space to move too. The only problem was, the same applied to her enemy.

It was a boy with completely white-lavender eyes, but the pupils were missing. He had long hair and wore strange clothes, his right arm and leg being in bandages. He was standing stoically in front of her looking at Will with his intimidating eyes.

He had lured her here by giving her a note to meet him here. He wrote her, that he had this dormouse in his hands and if she wanted to rescue it, she had to come.

Separating himself from a common dormouse thief he told her, that he knew of the full powers of this pet. He had caught the mouse and knocked it out before it could transform.

Now Will was here, glaring at him. "What do you want from me and more importantly what to you want from Mr. Huggles?"

"Mr. Huggles heh? A fitting name for a creature, that has one third of the greatest magical power of earth."

"So you are a coward and a jerk?" noticed Will. "You kidnap a dormouse and insult his name, wow you are really a pathetic bad guy."

Neji didn't respond, why should he? He already achieved his goal by luring her here and pissing her off so that he could fight her.

"Will Vendome." He began "I, Hyuuga Neji from the branch house of the Hyuuga Clan, challenge you, the Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar and Guardian of Quintessence to a fight."

"How do you know about us?" asked Will, fury in her eyes.

"You will get your answers when you beat me." he paused for a second. "Or when I pity you long enough for your pathetic attacks."

Hoping that this last taunt should do it, he got in the defensive stance of the Hyuuga style and Neji was not disappointed.

That was the last drop for the leader of the Guardians. Will screamed in anger and shot a lighting bolt at him. Neiji immediately activated his Byakugan and nullified the attack with a Juken strike, emitting chakra from his palm. (12)

"It seems I was right after all. Your attacks are really pathetic."

Will grabbed the heart. "We will see who is pathetic." The heart started to glow and Will transformed to her guardian self.

She charged flying at her opponent, covering herself with electricity, with hope to ram her enemy strong enough to take him out.

Neiji waited until she was in range and started to spin around, releasing a huge amount of chakra from all the chakra holes in his body at the same time, creating a blue shield of chakra. (13)

Will, unable to stop her attack, crashed against it, felt like a stone thrown against a wall. A really huge metal wall. She landed on the ground, moaning and unable to concentrate.

Neiji had stopped spinning around. The electricity was mostly absorbed from his attack but a little bit had still hit him, making his body a little numb. He marched slowly towards her.

Will, now standing again, glared at him, realizing his changed eyes. The veins on his temples were bulged and pupils were appeared in his eyes.

"You doubt yourself. You know now the difference of skill between us and you are close to give up. There is still a bit resistance in you, I can see that."

"h-how" stuttered Will, now a bit afraid of her enemy. The words he was saying seemed so true.

"I can see everything with my eyes; the birds around this building, the scene that three boys are chatting outside the school, the pores on your skin and even the fear in your eyes."

He stopped to look at her. "They can see everything, those eyes of mine."

Will started her last attempt, concentrating hard she shot another lighting bolt at him, a lighting bolt far more powerful then the last.

Neiji's eyes widened but in the last moment he channeled his chakra to his feet and jumped away, landing behind her.

"It is over." He said. "You are within my Divination field."(14)

"Your what?" asked Will confused. She never heard something like that before, at least not in such a context.

Neiji didn't answer but took a stance. An arm was near his feet in the front, the other arm high on his back.

Before Will could fly away he started to attack. "Two palms." He hit her two times, causing her to wince in pain, but he didn't stop. "Four palms." She couldn't defend herself from this attack too. The rest of the attacks were the same, the pain she felt was immense. "Eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty two palms"

Will had reached her limit of pain acceptance long ago and silently hoped he would be finished soon. "Eight Trigrams; Sixty four palms." (15)

After the sixty four strikes had hit her, she flew a few feet away landing harshly on her back coughing blood. She felt, that she transformed back to her normal self, but how? The heart was still active.

"You are wondering why you transformed form you pitiful self into your even more pitiful self, aren't you? Let me explain, with my last attack I closed the Tenketsu in your body The Tenketsu are 361 holes in your body, smaller then a needle hole. And if you hit those you can stop the flow of chakra in your body or in your case, the magic."

Wills eyes widened. "That's impossible. If they are so small as you say that there is no way that you could hit them."

"Here you are wrong. I can see them with my Byakugan and I can also see that you are beaten."

Will stared at him, knowing that he was right.

"You know, by the way, that you must defeat me to help your friends." Will gulped and cursed her faith that her enemy had to be such a guy and that she couldn't help her friends after all.

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Meanwhile in Meridian, Elyon was alone in her chamber thinking about the last days. Phobos has been freed by unknown people, most likely ninjas. Caleb and a few of his men were ambushed, with Caleb as the lone survivor, thanks to Matt and Huggles. And now the girls were back on earth and still no trace from Phobos.

The young Queen sighted and looked out of the window, wishing for the peaceful times again.

Suddenly she felt another presence in her room. She turned around to see a man, with silver hair, a mask covering his mouth and a forehead protector his left eye. He wore a green west and a black uniform.

"Who are you?" asked Elyon, her hands starting to glow.

The man looked right in her eyes, completely ignoring the fact, that Elyon, Queen of Meridian and strongest known magical person at the moment, was about to attack him.

"Hatake Kakashi"

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A/N So here the chapters ends and I am sure, that there are some questions, at least there should some or else I would have done a poor job ;)

Anyways here is the attack description. For those who want to read more, I mostly orientated myself on the wikipedia entries of Naruto.

If you already know much about the attacks, then you should only read number one.

– I could make up a Japanese name for making folds but I am a lazy person so this will come without a fancy name. It basically opens a fold but it consumes a lot of chakra, more then one person has so they need several persons and nearly an hour time.

- _**Kaze no Yaiba**_It creates a blade of wind, which can't be blocked with solid things.

- _**Kawarimi no Jutsu**_(Body Replacement Technique) The user changes places with a nearly object like a log or a bin.

_- __**Shunshin no Jutsu**_ (Body Flicker Technique) With this technique the user moves incredibly fast for a short distance, making it look like teleportation. The greater the distance the more chakra is required.

_- __**Henge no Jutsu**__ (Transformation Technique) _actually the same as the glamour spell. The user transforms into someone or something else.

_- __**Kikaichu no Jutsu**_ (Destruction Bug Host Technique) The Aburame clan members offer their bodies to the insects as a place to live since they were babies. As exchange they can command the bugs with their will, using them to drain chakra from their enemies.

- _**Kagemane no Jutsu**_ (Shadow Imitation Technique) This is a move only the members of the Nara clan can use. By using their own shadow (stretching it, changing it's form or connecting it to other shadows, to increase his reach) they try to grab the shadow of the enemy. Once this is achieved the enemy has to copy the movements of the user of this technique, unable to move.

- _**Baika no Jutsu**_ (Multi-Size Technique) A technique only Akimichi clan members can use. This technique increases the user's body size by converting calories into chakra.

- _**Nikudan Sensha**_ (Human Bullet Tank) Also an Akimichi clan technique. By tucking their limbs inside their body after using Multi-Size technique, they are now a giant human ball and by using their chakra the roll with high speed and spin, crushing most in their way.

_- _**Byakugan** (, _**Byakugan**_White Eye) A bloodline limit, like the Sharingan, but the Hyuuga Clan only you have a 360° degree of vision (except a small point on the users neck) and the user can look extremely wide. It can see through nearly everything. It is more precise then any microscope, being able to see the Tenketsu of the chakra circulating system.

_**Ninpo: Shinranshin no Jutsu **_(Mind Body Disturbance Technique) Another clan move, but this time from the Yamanaka clan. The user of this technique can control the body of the opponent, but he hast to hold the needed seal, being not able to do anything else in that moment.

_**Juken**_ (Gentle Fist) A technique developed and used by the Hyuuga clan. The user emits chakra from his hands (or another part of the body) pushing it into the enemies body and destroying the chakra circulation system and internal organs. Because you are not able to train your organs, no matter how strong or powerful you are, this strike will still cause extreme damage to you.

_**Hakkesho Kaiten**_ (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin) A Hyuuga clan technique. By emitting chakra from all chakra points and spinning around the user creates a shield of chakra, an ultimate defense technique.

_**Hakke **_(Divination field) The range of the attacks or the Hyuuga are lying within the hake.

Hakke Rokujūyon Sho (Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms) The user (a Hyuuga) attacks and closes the Tenketsu of the opponent, disabling him or her from using chakra or magic.

I am sorry about the length of this explanation, but I won't explain those moves again, so don't worry


	3. The Revealing

First, sorry it took me so long to write the third chapter but I was out of town twice, first for four days to Strasbourg and a few days later for a week to Italy in a class trip so I hadn't that much time to write. But I hope that you will enjoy this chapter.

Ariana T. and Alexis kiah: Thank you for your reviews, I am glad that you liked it.

DarkInu418: Thank you and yeah, it is playing during the time skip and Sakura and Naruto won't make an entrance anytime soon.

Sabaku no Yumi: I am glad that there are less mistakes now, but unfortunately there will be always some. There will be more of the rookie nine to see during this story but I don't plan to let them appear at once. But I can promise you that Naruto will amaze Meridian ;)

Joe of the Furlings: Thank you for the review and like I said above it will take time.

DayDreamer9: Thank you and I will try, promise :)

Guardian's Light: I really tried to find all the mistakes and I appreciate it that you liked it. I hope there won't be as much mistakes in this chapter too, but like always I am pretty sure this won't be the case. So I hope you will like the fight between them, have fun reading.

I do really hope to find a BETA reader for my story, as you see, the English language is not something I am completely safe in it (even my German grammar is not that good) so it would be nice to have someone who could help me with it.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could anyways.

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A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship."

- John D. Rockefeller

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Elyon was looking closely at the white haired man, watching for every eventually move. He had introduced himself as Hatake Kakashi but the name didn't ring any bells. She narrowed her eyes and the glow of her hands increased.

"Why are you here?" she hissed, preparing herself for an assault.

The adult ninja didn't answer but stared at her seriously with his one eye. Slowly he lifted his hand to his forehead protector, which covered his left eye…

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Will was still lying on the ground, staring at Neji fearfully. She felt like the time before she was a guardian, no power in her, no magic. In other words helpless.

"I see you finally accepted your defeat." Will couldn't answer, the pain she felt was too much for her to handle. In her whole life she hadn't felt that much before. 

"This is the end." Neji started walking towards her, his Byakugan still activated. "For you and for your friends."

Hearing that her friends were probably in the same situation as she, her look became determined again. Knowing, that it was her responsibility to give her friends their rightful powers, she had to help them, she was the leader after all, the one, who was chosen by the Oracle to carry the Heart of Kandrakar. She couldn't loose here, not to him and not in this condition.

"You are starting to get on my nerves, pale eyes."

Neji smirked "Petty insults aren't going to save your friends; or you for that matter."

"You are right." said Will, getting on her feet, glaring at Neji. She took out the Heart and held it in front of her. "This will." with all her concentration, all her believe in the power of the Heart and in her friends she shouted "GUARDIANS UNITE!"

_What the hell__…_

The jonin of the Hidden Village in the Leafs saw now for the second time someone with his tenketsu closed regaining her magic. Out of the Heard magic waves were coming, forcing themselves into the Guardian and opening all closed tenketsu.

But this wasn't all; four orbs, each having a different color were shooting out, disappearing in the horizon.

In front of him was Will, once again in her Guardian form, all the bruises seemed to be disappeared and she had so much chakra/magic that Neji shuddered.

_That much chakra is not natural. It is on the same level as __Naruto's_

"Where is that confident smile of yours?" asked Will, electricity now collecting in her hands. "It seemed to have left you, together with your big mouth."

Before Neji could react she rose to the sky, putting a safe distance between her and the ninja, now knowing that she shouldn't be too close to him.

A lighting bolt came out of her palms, aiming directly at Neji, and again he blocked it with Kaiten.

_That was too close. I __can't use the Heavenly Spin too often._

While Neji was thinking about a way to defeat his opponent Will did the only thing she could think of. Firing as many lighting bolts she was capable of, hoping to eventually hit him with one and so finishing the match.

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Irma was still staring at Shino and his bugs, which were flying around him. The young water Guardian knew that she was no real match for her opponent at this state, not unless she would be going Guardian, which was not an option at the moment.

Seeing those bugs slowly surrounding her was making her feel concerned. Nobody likes it that their energy would be drained. Even more if the energy was drained by bugs.

"You can still give up." suggested Shino in his normal emotionless voice.

"So can you."

"You can't possibly think that you are able to defeat me and my bugs at the same time? You have to concentrate on one of us. If you start to attack the bugs with those water techniques of yours, I will attack you. On the other hand, if you attack me, my little friends will finish you off."

While looking at the bugs and thinking about how he controlled them with his will, Irma got an idea.

"I hope you don't mind sharing your bugs?" mocked Irma one last time before starting to concentrate on her second ability; Mind Control.

Nearly half of Shino's allies separated themselves from their current formation and started to attack the other bugs and a battle of insects started, right above their heads.

Shino was impressed, he knew that in her current form she was not powerful enough to control someone like him; he doubted that she could even do that in her guardian form, but he had never thought that she would use her powers on his insects.

While Irma was only capable of influencing single humans in her normal form she had no trouble take over the insects. Their brains were smaller and less complex then the brains of humans.

"You live up to your reputation, Water Guardian."

"Flattering won't help you." smirked Irma, looking a bit tired. Even though she was controlling only insects, she was controlling a huge amount of them and it took nearly all her power and concentration to maintain the control."

"I see you are reaching you limit." heard Irma Shino's emotionless voice, and even if she didn't like what he said, she knew that it was true.

More and more bugs slipped from her control, her little army of insects becoming smaller and smaller like her hopes to win this fight. Sweat was now covering nearly her whole body but unfortunately it would be not the only thing.

After the most bugs were freed, they started to land and slowly crawl up her body, covering more and more of her and starting to drain her energy.

Irma wanted to scream, wanted to wash them away like everything else so far but she couldn't. She used up most of her concentration for the insects and now she couldn't use her elemental powers over water because of them.

_I __can't loose here, I can't loose here. I have to help my friends._

Shino, knowing that he had won, felt that his allies were suddenly afraid. He looked up to the sky to see a blue orb coming with a rapid speed at them, nearing with every second until it hit Irma and she transformed into her Guardian form.

For the young girl it was like breathing again after holding the air for a few minutes.

Energy, magic and power was flowing again trough her, making her feel invincible and safe. The bugs, who were still draining on her energy were only a nuisance now, after all she was provided with limitless energy from her auramere. Those small little pests were harmless to her now, unless they were able to do other things.

But that didn't mean she was comfortable with having them on her body.

Water erupted around her washing all the bugs away from her, causing a huge wave nearly hitting Shino, who could just jump away in time. Irma, not loosing any time aimed at him and shot a huge steam of water.

The bug user reacted immediately and held up his hands. More bugs crawled out and formed a wall to hold off the water.

It was a useless attempt, the water hit the wall off insects with such a force, that it looked like regular water hitting regular insects and Shino was thrown against the wall and before he could adapt to the situation a small whirlpool appeared around him.

Aburame Shino was trapped in a cage of water, disabled to use his bugs any further.

"I hope you are going to change your opinion buddy, but for me it looks like you loose."

Shino didn't respond, but made a hand seal and disappeared from the center and came out in front of Irma. The bugs came back from all directions, crawling back into Shino and returning to their sanctuary.

"What? Do you want more?" glared Irma, water surrounding her hands.

Shino simply shook his head. "There is no need to continue this battle. You have too much energy in your Guardian form and if my next attacks should have any effect, I would have to attack you with a killing intend."

Irma raised an eyebrow. "You mean like the whole time."

"The whole time I was merely testing your powers and abilities but after I have done that I can fulfill my other orders as well."

He bowed, which was a real surprise for Irma. None of her enemies she had defeated before had ever done that. Instead they all vowed to get her back or shouted to kill her in her sleep and all that crap.

"Irma-sama, I am a Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leafs and I am here to protect and to help you to defeat Phobos and all the Sound Ninja who came for his help."

To say Irma was a bit perplex was like saying the sun is a bit hot or the game Zelda, Ocarina of time was a slightly good game. It was a really big understatement.

"You are what to do what?" Shino frowned, he didn't like to repeat things over and over, and he had the feeling that this girl would want a lot of explaining.

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Taranee was still not able to move, she realized fast that all her efforts to move her body were in vain. On the other hand she was doing the very same movement the boy with the bored expression was doing.

"What…what have you done to me? Did you bind me with your shadow?"

"Exactly, now you have to copy every single one of my movements. There is no way to break my Shadow Imitation but through great brute force, something you don't have in your current state."

"You are awfully well informed about me." hissed Taranee angrily.

"You have to be in these times or you will die." replied the lazy ninja, still staring at her.

The young fire Guardian was shocked. She had lost without an actual fight, her opponent knew that her fire attacks were not strong of fast enough to danger him, but they would let his shadow grow.

Taranee felt helpless, not even Nerissa or Phobos or any other enemy had defeated her this easy.

_But there is a chance_ thought Taranee. If she could create some fire, she would be able to control it only with her mind. The problem was, she had never tried to do it without her hands.

Concentrating all her mystical powers in her left hand she managed to create a small flame. The result surprised not only Taranee but Shikamaru as well.

He was amazed, Shikamaru knew that magic users didn't need hand seals and in most cases phrases to use their arcane powers but they still needed some movements, even if it was only a wave with the hand and yet this girl, who had her powers only for a year created fire with only her will alone.

It was like someone who was only training to be a ninja for a year to use S level jutsu and she wasn't even transformed. The young genius was truly impressed. If her control over fire was that strong in her current, weakened state how big would it be once she had access to her full powers?

"I must admit that you show some skill here but this fireball is useless." tried Shikamaru to lower her spirits again.

Taranee smirked "You should know that nobody can bind fire." Suddenly the flame left her hand and flew towards Shikamaru's face. The nearer it came, the bigger it become. It was impossible to block, so it left one thing.

With a jump saved the boy of the Nara clan himself but like most things in life this came with a prize and the prize was that he had to cancel his Shadow Imitation Technique.

Taranee was exhausted and the prize she had to pay for that attack was nearly all of her magical energy. To use any further arcane she had to drain her life force which would shorten her life span and would put her in more danger than this fight.

She wasn't the most beautiful girl out there neither was she someone who paid much attention to her looks but she had no desire to look like Nerissa anytime soon.

Shikamaru had noticed the signs of lacking energy and tiredness and he knew that she was now in his mercy.

_She was a troublesome opponent but if this was all she got she will need a lot of training._

His thoughts were interrupted by the red orb which hit the girl and transformed her in a more mature and fairy like state.

"This can't be good." muttered the ninja.

"You can bet on it" grinned Taranee now more powerful then ever. "You can prepare yourself."

Without loosing any time he formed once again the rat seal and his shadow began to grow towards the Guardian.

"This again? You should be more original" taunted Taranee and jumped out of reach.

_But still, does my transformation changes anything? I can't fly, I will still have a shadow and if he manages to grab me I will fall and I can't fly high enough to shrink the shadow, other people would be able to see me. My fire attacks are only increasing the shadows so I can only use them to a small extend. _

Shikamaru smiled when he saw her thoughts on her face. "I know what you are thinking and you see that it is only a matter of time that I will get you. Once my shadow catches you it will be the end for you."

"You make it sound, like it will be so easy." growled Taranee.

Even though he didn't show it he was still concerned about his fight. _Actually there is still a way for her to win. Let's see if she can figure it out._

Unfortunately for him Taranee did figure it out. Now hurling fireballs in the right moments she managed to have a very slight control over the shadows of the surrounding objects and her own. Every time Shikamarus shadow was about to capture hers or using another one to increase his lengths, a fireball would let the shadow change his direction.

While both were in deep concentration Taranee created a ring of fire around Shikamaru and charged a really great fireball and shot it right at him.

It hit him right on the head and after a puff there was only a burned log. Behind her was Shikamaru and he had a tired expression.

"Guess that's it, bothersome woman. The fight ends here, you showed what you got and I am nearly out of chakra."

_Out of what?_ Thought Taranee, still suspicious what he was up to.

"You managed it quite good against me, even though I am not a really strong fighter and you transformed without a logical explanation. You friend was a few kilometers away after all. But still good job." He said in a bored voice, putting his hands into his pockets.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Taranee perplexed.

Shikamaru yawned. "Nara Shikamaru, Chunin of the Village Hidden in the Leafs and one of your protectors and helpers in the troublesome task of defeating Phobos. Unfortunately I was assigned to this mission."

Taranee simply stared dumbfounded at the boy in front of her who seemed to forget her and stared at the sky…

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Cornelia was still eying the boy in front of her, careful so he could not catch her off guard. With concentration she let a few bins behind the boy levitate and fly at him but he simply made himself round again and the bins bounced off.

"Is that all you can do?" asked Choji. _And here I thought the Guardians would be strong._

"You will see." responded Cornelia, while preparing herself again. Choji started to attack, and rolled directly at Cornelia who reacted perhaps the fastest in her whole life. With an immense concentration she made a ramp of earth so that Choji had no other choice but to jump over her, right into the other wall, which crashed down like the wall before.

After Choji walked out of the mess and chuckled. "That was some quick thinking there."

"I am not finished yet." Again ranks came out of the ground but this time far more then the other time and in a matter of seconds Choji was unable to move. "I got you now." smiled Cornelia. "You should never mess with a Guardian, fatty."

This was the last straw. Chojis face became red with anger and he shouted. "PARTIAL MULTI-SIZE TECHNIQUE!" (1) His right arm became really big and freed him from the ranks and he managed to grab Cornelia and lift her, threatening to crush her with his fist.

"Big boned people rule, hurray."

"I am beaten by someone who wears his underwear on his head? You got to be kidding me!" sighted Cornelia but suddenly she saw a green orb coming at her. She smirked.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but this is so not over."

The orb hit her and Cornelia, the earth Guardian was there again. With telekinesis she was able to open the fist of Choji and free herself and now she was flying above him, while he was watching her, waiting for an opening to attack.

"Ready for round two?" asked the blond girl and with a wave of her hand several rocks lifted from the ground and started to fly towards Choji. The "big boned" ninja managed to avoid them or used his Multi-Size Technique to destroy the larger ones.

After a few minutes really big ranks came out of the ground and tied him up, making it impossible to move and rocks were floating over him, threatening to crush Choji.

"It is over, you have lost. Now you can go back to Phobos for whom you work and tell him to sod off."

Choji didn't respond but with letting all four limps grow immensely and forcing the last bit chakra into them he managed to free himself and smiled at Cornelia. (2)

"We can quit fighting, you have proven your skill." said Choji, while opening a new bag of chips. "I am not working for Phobos. It is quite the contrary; I am here to help you getting him back to jail. Choji Akimichi from Konoha, at your service Cornelia-sama."

Not really impressed by the fact that he was going to help her and her friends and totally not interested in his abnormal attacks, she asked him another thing what was on her mind.

"What does this sama mean?"

"It is a suffix and equivalent to "Master" in your language. This Oracle guy gave us some translating spells to understand your language. As a Guardian and our superior it is the polite thing to do."

Cornelia didn't listen to the second part of his explanation and smirked while Choji was munching chips. "Mistress Cornelia has sure a nice ring to the ears…"

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Hay Lin was still eying the strange girl, with the strange eyes in the strange stance. Not that she had the right to call anything strange since she herself was not completely normal but this was the word she saw most fitting.

Hay Lin had found out that the girl could not only see invisible things with those eyes but had a 360° degree vision too. Those eyes were totally cool, too bad her opponent had them and there was no way for Hay Lin to attack her without the attack being seen.

The air Guardian really wished she had something like that eyes, but for now she had to concentrate on that fight. She wasn't in a really good position, while not in her guardian form she was the weakest of the five but transformed, she could to do some really awesome things with Irma. Unfortunately Irma wasn't here. 

But then she saw something, which could eventually replace Irma in this moment. With a good aimed breeze she let a bottle of water flew in her hands and hurled it right at the feet of Hinata. The bottle broke and water flew over her feet and in this moment Hay Lin blew some cold wind to freeze it. Now Hyuuga Hinata was frozen to the ground unable to change her position.

"Wow, that actually worked." said Hay Lin surprised.

It worked, but only for five seconds.

While not being a prodigy like her cousin Neji or her littler sister Hanabi her control over chakra was still a lot better then that of an average shinobi. So she let chakra out of her whole legs and feet to break the ice.

"Wow that was pretty cool." awed Hay Lin. Hinata blushed when she heard the girl, a Guardian nonetheless being impressed by her simple inferior Juken attacks.

"Th…thank you." She stuttered "But I still ha…have to beat you, yo…you know?"

Hay Lin gulped. Hinata prepared herself, muttered an apology and charged again at the girl. Hay Lin could barely avoid the first hit but the second strike hit her right into the stomach.

Not wanting to seriously hurt her, Hinata didn't pushed any chakra into her but used only simple strikes with her palms, but they were more then enough for Hay Lin to handle.

Using the wind in the right times she either slowed Hinata down or made herself faster, sometimes even both. But now things started to get worse. She didn't have the stamina of Hinata and got tired, now not able to avoid the strikes she was hit several times, before she fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

Hinata was now looking really sorry to hurt the girl that much, she wasn't even an enemy and yet it was an order.

Suddenly, through the window a white-blue orb came in and hit Hay Lin, changing her into the Guardian mode. Now taller, more mature and with all the bruises gone Hay Lin was ready for the real battle to start.

With a strong wind burst she hit the pale eyed girl and sent her against the wall. Hinata get up fast and charged at Hay Lin, avoiding all wind blast.

Flying was no use now; she was only in a cellar room and she wasn't as agile as the girl in front of her, so she did the only thing she could think of. She breathed deep and blew so hard, that it affected the whole room, giving no place to escape.

The cold air hit Hinata sending her flying around the room and hitting against the walls. After two minutes the wind became weaker until it completely stopped.

Hinata was still able to move, but was not in her best condition either. Still, she was used worst and could continue the battle but she didn't need to. The Guardian had passed the test. She stood up once again and smiled shyly.

"Y…You passed the test Hay Lin-sama. I, Hyuuga Hinata from Konoha, ha...have been sent to assist you and your friends i…i…in the task of capturing Phobos." said Hinata

Hay Lin looked in awe at her. "Wow, I mean great. So does it means we are friends now."

Hinata blushed and nodded. Ha Lin smiled widely and jumped in joy. "I passed a test and get a new friend. If I only could figure out what else is going on I would be really happy"

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Matt was staring in disbelief at the blond girl sitting in the branch above him. Of course she couldn't read his expression because of his golden mask but still she might know of his body language.

"So you give up, or what?" asked Ino slightly bored. "Those handcuffs are made to hold ninjas in line so you can't break them with brute force, at least not while you are in this position."

Matt growled. "Then I have to use something else, don't I?" He transformed back to his normal state and brushed the handcuffs off, now being too big for him. Ino reacted immediately and jumped down, trying to kick him.

Matt managed to avoid being hit critically but he was kicked in the right arm, which was more then enough to knock him from his feet.

"Come on, is this all a reign of earth can do?" teased Ino, now being extremely content to get her revenge. She hadn't forgotten the comment yet; Shikamaru and Choji knew how long Yamanaka Ino could hold a grudge.

Matt transformed again and stood up. "You know you fight very good." He paused and added with his most intimidating Shagon voice. "For a girl, that is."

Now he had done it, Ino was extremely pissed of. "Bastard, I'll show you." She grabbed a few shuriken and threw them but Matt simply shot them with a green blast.

But Ino had already moved; now her hand blurred while doing seals and she disappeared. Matt looked around, hoping to find her but suddenly a tree grow behind him and before he could react, roots and branches had bound him, making it impossible for him to move.

From the sides of his eyes he could see Ino coming out of the tree, with a kunai in her hand. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death" (3)

He had never heard of this technique, but in the five seconds Matt had experienced this gave him enough insight to say that this was nothing good, especially the part with death. He couldn't move, was bound to a tree and a psychotic girl, one he had personally pissed of, grow half out of a tree and was holding a knife at his throat.

But Matt was a Regent of Earth and a warrior at heart. He had faced countless dangers so he wasn't afraid, at least he shouldn't. But he was scarred, really scarred. That girl was really bad news.

"How about we call it a truce?" suggested Matt, trying not to sound to scarred.

Of course he had not such luck. "So you are afraid of a helpless girl?" asked Ino moving the kunai closer to his throat. "You can't move, you can't fight, with all the powers you posses, you can't defeat me, an ordinary girl. Makes you feel weak huh? Useless. Unworthy. And tell you what, that's what you are."

Matt gulped, not liking what he was hearing, but a not so small part of him said that this was actually true.

"You are holding one third of the most powerful magical source of earth and yet you can't dispel a simple genjutsu. Truly pitiful indeed."

"Wh…What is a ganjuzu?" asked Matt, now really doubting himself.

"Now, where would be the fun, if I tell you? You have to figure out that one by yourself. If you can manage it in ten seconds, that is."

Matt nearly panicked but suddenly he heard a voice inside of his head. A voice he had hoped never to hear again. _Illusion! A Genjutsu is a illusion you fool._

Ignoring the fact that it was the voice of the person he detested at most he took the advice. By emitting magical energy he was suddenly able to move and with an elbow strike he managed to free himself.

"Ahh, so you managed it. Truly impressive." She put away her kunai and smiled. "Even though I would love to continue our little fight there is no need o do it. You managed to get out of a high level genjutsu and you nearly hold your ground against me."

Matt, now being able to think clearly again, transformed back to his normal self and looked insulted. "Nearly? I totally beat you."

Ino ignored him. "Anyways, I am here with my friends to protect you and help to defeat this Phobos guy, before he becomes to powerful with the help of Orochimaru."

"So you come here to help me by beating the crap out of me?" asked Matt in disbelief.

"Yeah." stated Ino happily like it was the most logical answer. "It helped us to see your fighting level, we can plan our strategies better, now that we know each others talents and it was fun to have an easy win."

Matt's mood dropped really fast. "I really don't like you…"

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Neji was still avoiding those lighting bolts but unlucky for him, Will was far from stopping. In the mid of the battle she had used her powers to turn things alive, to use all the articles like banks to attack Neji, but it was impossible to catch him off guard. 

Every time something came from behind, he would jump or strike behind without looking. For Will it seemed like he had eyes on his backs, but on the other hand Will didn't know that with his Byakugan it was practically the same.

So the keeper of the Heart simply continued her assault at the genius, hoping, that he wouldn't have time to attack her again. Fortunately for Will, Neji didn't intend to keep attacking her. After a last block with the Heavenly Spin he simply stood there and looked into her eyes.

"There is no need to continue this fight, Guardian-sama. You have proven yourself. I, Hyuuga Neji from the Hidden Village of the Leafs was send here to help you and your friends in the task of defeating Phobos."

Will had already some experience in this whole business with bad guys and good guys and until now, this strange dude, who had introduced himself as Hyuuga Neji was defiantly a bad guy. Simply saying he wasn't was not nearly enough for Will to believe him.

So she did the only logical thing to do; continue her attack.

The lighting bolt nearly hit Neji, who could barely avoid it. Now things didn't ´t look so good for him. Will was maybe only a bit sore but her energy was near limitless, at least as long she had the heart and she was able to fly and attack him while staying of range. For a close range fighter a long range one was always a difficult one.

On the top of that his charka reserves were nearly empty, to use the Heavenly Spin that much was a risky move. Sure it saves you from nearly anything and Neji wasn't someone with low charka capacities but his weren't nearly as big as Naruto's and even he can't go around and use that technique the whole day,…probably.

So now, where she didn't listened to him, there was only a way for him to get her listening to him and that was knocking her out. Now the prized question was how to do it. She was flying; this was certainly a problem, one he could solve.

So he did the one thing he could think of. Taking an example of his good friend Lee, he charged right at Will, avoiding all electricity and after collecting a good amount of charka in his legs he jumped so high, he was on a level with Will.

The redhead didn't think someone could jump so high and the only thing which saved her was the Heart, who generated a pink wall to defend her from the strike which would have hit her in the stomach.

Will was extremely pleased to see the Heart of Kandrakar defending her like earlier when she was new in this business. The whole thing with Nerissa had made her a bit uncomfortable to use the Heart to other things then opening folds or transforming her friends but at times like these she remembered how powerful this artefact really was.

Neji was having similar thoughts about the Heart. Knowing that it couldn't be taken with brute force there wasn't any other way for him. A complicated and high level Genjutsu, which was required to do this task, was not something he could do.

_If I can't defeat a girl who can't really control her powers and is rather new to fighting, I should spend more time training. _thought Neji, when he looked again at Will, who was smiling smugly at him.

"Is that all you have, pale-eyes? You didn't really think I would buy that lie, did you?" shouted Will, enjoying the fact that she was once again on the top.

Neji didn't bother to response. He knew that she wouldn't believe a word he would say, it was all written over her face. She was determined to defeat him and there was no way around. So he grabbed in his bag and took out a few shuriken, still not sure to use them.

Tsunade-sama would obliterate him if he accidentally killed her and he was pretty sure that her friends wouldn't take this well too. Neji wasn't someone who was afraid of much things but a pissed off Tsunade surely belonged to them.

So he put them back and cursed his luck and fate to have to fight. "I am really on your side, this was only a challenge to test your skills." He tried to convince her.

"Yeah, so take this as a challenge as well."

_Enough is enough. _ Neji started a last attempt to knock her out and explain it to her but suddenly he couldn't move.

_What the hell…_

Will had problems as well when her body suddenly didn't obey her anymore and she slowly landed next to Neji who was unable to move. Strangely his shadow was much longer then normal and went all the way back to another group of persons.

"Shadow Imitation Technique is a success." Said a bored voice and the voice of a girl immediately followed.

"Mind Body Disturbance Technique is a success as well."

"Will" she heard Taranee's voice as she landed next to her and Ino released her technique. "They are really on our side. They proved that they were send by the Oracle, look." She held a coin with the symbol of Kandrakar on it.

Will relaxed and saw Matt running towards her. "Are you alright?" Will nodded and hugged him. "Yeah, everything is fine."

She looked to the other and saw the rest of the group approaching.

"And you are…"

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Outside, in the Hoogong fields, two sides were finally meeting. Event the wind seemed to be curious as it stopped the second Phobos, Prince of Meridian and tyrant entered the field together with Kabuto and Sasuke.

Orochimaru was awaiting him, along with his man, each of them looking at the Prince curiously.  
"Phobos-kun." He greeted him with a nod.

"Orochimaru, it has been a long time."

"Well you seemed to be occupied." Replied Orochimaru smugly

"You sure took your time to free me." said Phobos, narrowing his eyes but Orochimaru just chuckled.

"It was not an easy thing to open a fold to Meridian. It takes quite the preparations."

Phobos didn't respond. Instead with a swift of his arm, sand came out of his hand forming the scyring pool. Inside of it the castle of Elyon appeared.

"Under the castle there is the prison where my faithful servants are waiting to be freed. With the speed of your ninjas we should make it in one day."

Orochimaru wasn't pleased with the situation. Phobos was here for a few minutes and was already ordering him around.

"Perhaps we should take a bit more time for preparing ourselves. We are exhausted and need some rest."

Phobos ignored him. "You can rest after we have freed my army. If the Guardians found us now our adventure would have a fast ending."

Then Phobos smirked at Orochimaru, "Of course you are still free to voice your opinion."

The leader of the Sound Village didn't take this chance, knowing too well that Phobos was a far too mighty opponent to anger now. If he had been only a bit weaker but strangely he was at a higher power level then he expected.

He glanced at Kabuto but was unable to read through the boy, like always. Orochimaru smiled again, this was the thing what amused him most about Kabuto, the fact that he was completely unpredictable.

Did he let him recover so fast, so he, Orochimaru, couldn't take over Phobos anytime soon?

This was bound to be interesting.

"We should leave in an hour; we have to make the necessary preparations."

"Very well." agreed Phobos and turned around. He walked to the next tree and with a wave of his hand the tree was rooted out, formed to some kind of chair and placed in front of Phobos

"You can begin with your preparations." said Phobos and sat down.

Everybody was silent but after a nod of Orochimaru the ninjas started to prepare themselves.

Kabuto walked to Orochimaru and gave him a short report, explaining the events and surroundings of the palace and prison.

"Good work Kabuto; once again you didn't make me regret my _trust_ in you." said Orochimaru, eying Kabuto closely.

The white haired teen adjusted his glasses. "You are giving me too much credit, Orochimaru-sama."

"So you say the Sharingan can't copy magic. Interesting, very interesting indeed." He looked shortly at Sasuke who was sitting on a Hoogong egg, eating a small meal.

"You can rest now; when you are ready I have a small mission for you…."

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Elyon watched closely when Kakashi reached his forehead protector and adjusted it, so is sat correctly. 

He smiled "I was send by he Oracle to protect and serve you, Elyon-sama." To prove his words, he showed a coin with the symbol of Kandrakar. The Queen of Meridian was relieved to find out that the intruder was not an enemy.

"But still…" started Kakashi, now looking serious again. "I have to attack you, to test you strength. I will not hold back and I would suggest that you should follow my example. It may lead to your death if you don't give one hundred percent."

And before Elyon could react Kakashi took out a few kunai and threw them right at Elyon, who was fast enough to stop them in mid air.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Elyon, unsure with the situation. "I do not wish to harm you."

Kakashi chuckled coldly and looked right in her eyes. "You couldn't if you tried, little girl."

Elyon was a girl who could not be angered fast and saw always the good in people, she was a fair ruler and was used to unhappy and rude people and learned to live with it. But being underestimated by this weird guy, she couldn't bear it.

Suddenly a sword was on Kakashi's neck, threatening to slit his throat any second.  
"Don´t touch Queen Elyon with your filthy little hands, bastard." hissed Caleb, who had heard the last part of the conversation.

Kakashi turned slowly around to look at the young boy, who had leaded a Rebellion with no significant power to victory.

"What are you doing kid? Do you really thing you can harm me with a sword? Are you trying to fool me? Do you think I am that weak?"

Caleb didn't say anything but stayed at his place, still watching every move of the intruder closely, ready to kill him. Suddenly Kakashi tried to grab his kunai with high speed but was still not fast enough.

Caleb reacted immediately and slit the throat of the silver haired man. But instead of blood water came out of the wound and the ninja turned to a puddle of water. (4)

"What was that?" asked Caleb, still looking around. "Was he a water spirit?" Suddenly he felt a cold blade against his neck and heard Kakashi's voice.

"Not quite."

Caleb cursed his foolishness to let his guard down so fast but this time he was saved by Elyon who shot a white beam at Caleb. Now Caleb was surrounded by a white aura disabling Kakashi with the task of holding him.

Now Caleb and Elyon were standing in front of Kakashi once again reached for his forehead protector but this time he revealed his Sharingan eye, which shocked the both Meridians.

""What…what kind of eye is that?" asked Caleb, still staring at the red eye with the tree black stripes. The eye started to wheel around, making Caleb feel dizzy.

"Caleb!" He heard Elyon. "Don´t look in his eye, it has hypnotic powers." She touched him on the shoulder, dispelling the effect of the eye. Then with a wave of her hand silver clouds were steaming out, creating a wall between Kakashi and them.

_What an immense charka capacity. I didn't know that someone like that could exist._

Kakashi was worried. After a look with his Sharingan he got the knowledge that this girl was really powerful.

Sure, he was warned by this Oracle guy that Queen Elyon was not someone to take lightly but he didn't think that she would be that much of a threat.

So he created a Shadow Clone and hid himself in the room, eying closely what would come next. (5)

Elyon was able to see through the smoke and created a bubble which caught the Clone. Elyon was happy, that nobody was injured and the fight was over so fast but Caleb was still suspicious. He had tricked them once with some kind of duplicate, he could do it again.

"Please my Queen, check if he is the right one."

Elyon understood immediately what he was saying and inside the bubble a solid cloud hit Kakashi and this time disappeared in a puff.

"Damn, he fooled us again." cursed Caleb looking around again. Elyon closed her eyes and summoned a white orb between her hands. After a few seconds it raised to the roof where it stood still.

Kakashi decided that he waited long enough, but he didn't know what kind of ability this white orb had. He couldn't understand it like usual so it was the best to have a sneak attack.

He created another clone and he let it charge, to see what would happen.

The second the clone was in sight, the orb shot an energy beam which hit the clone in the stomach, causing it to disappear. Kakashi eyed the orb closely, this was a dangerous thing indeed, even though he was sure that he could avoid the beams it would be better to destroy it.

After making the seals for the body flicker techniques he appeared behind Caleb and Elyon and stated his attack.

By positioning himself so, that Elyon and Caleb were between him and the orb he gained a few seconds. So he kicked Caleb and managed to perform the necessary seals.

While Caleb crashed into the wall, Elyon managed to avoid the beam of the Orb but was unable to disturb whatever Kakashi was doing. Suddenly a great fireball left his mouth, or better his mask and Elyon could only avoid it thanks to her ability of teleporting.

Instead of her the fireball hit the orb and destroyed it, leaving Kakashi enough time for his next attack. Rapidly he was performing seals again, but this time far more then earlier.

Before Elyon could react the water in the small well raised and formed a dragon and was threatening to crush the young Queen. (6)

_He has the control over the elements too?_ She managed to created shield just in time to protect herself from the water but when the sight was clear again, there was no trace of Kakashi.

Then she heard a noise from the room next to hers and when she teleported there, she saw Kakashi and Caleb in a hand to hand combat. Until now she thought of Caleb as the best fighter she knew and had always been sure that he could hold his ground against every enemy, no matter how powerful the opponent was.

He had survived enemies like Phobos, Trecker, Cedric, Nerissa and Miranda, with nothing but his wits and experience he gained while fighting them his whole life. So it hurt her seeing him, being toyed like that by Kakashi who had a book in his hand and was reading it, while avoiding or blocking every single attack.

Meanwhile Caleb was beyond angry. He didn't train his whole life to fight just to be underestimated by a white haired ninja who read a book. His blows became faster, his kicks harder and he even used a trick he once learned from a pirate captain while he sailed on his ship for a few months when he had to find members for the Rebellion, but even that was pointless as the older man simply avoided the leg with a fast reaction, not looking up once.

The man was able to see through his techniques and attacks and managed to avoid them perfectly and Caleb knew that the fight was more a farce then a fight. The man could kill him any time but he didn't play with him just to anger Caleb. It was to show the Queen that he was a superior fighter, someone who could fight the best hand to hand fighter of Meridian and read a book at the same time.

Caleb hated it, he absolutely hated it but he had to continue. Even if he was just playing with him he had to keep doing that so it would give his Queen enough time to attack this ninja

Elyon was mad as well. Caleb had become a dear friend and had risked his life countless times for the people of Meridian and the Guardians. He was the boyfriend of her best friend and if there was something Elyon didn't like, that was making fun of people precious to her.

The ground under the feet of Kakashi began to shake and gave Caleb the opening he was looking for. He managed to land a strike with his right fist in the stomach of Kakashi and to his horror this one vanished in smoke too.

He had been fooled by a mere clone.

Elyon realized this as well and started to look around, hoping to find the ninja. Suddenly two hands came out of the ground, grabbed Caleb's feet and pulled him in the floor. (7) Now the only thing that was on the surface was Caleb's head, making it impossible for him to move.

Kakashi appeared behind Caleb and looked at Elyon, his left eye covered again by his forehead protector. He had decided to cover it again. It did allow him to react faster, by allowing him to see some of the attacks before but he couldn't understand and copy them and he was unable to hypnotize her, so it drained his energy nearly for nothing.

"So, I hope you will become serious now. If you are the best Meridian has to offer I am really disappointed."

Elyon quickly raised her hand letting ropes of energy coming out of her hand, which wrapped around Kakashi, disabling him to move.

But his time Elyon was still looking around. She knew that this was another one of his clones, but this was a game which could be played by two. Suddenly the whole room was filled with Elyons'.

The real Kakashi was hiding in the other room, from where he could see what was happening. After dispelling his clone, he immediately knew what the Queen had done and revealed his Sharingan once again, hoping to see through the clones.

After watching them for a few seconds he was pretty sure, that he had discovered the real one and prepared his next attack. After a few seals electricity began to concentrate on his right arm, forming the One Thousand Birds, or the Chidori, (8) the one attack he invented himself.

After a few seconds he stormed in the room, running through the images, causing them to vanish straight at the real Queen who had just freed Caleb.

Before Caleb could warn her Elyon had turned around and Kakashi's arm with the mysterious technique vanished, disturbing his attack and setting Kakashi in a state of shock.

_How the hell did she let my arm vanish?_

Any normal living being would have an emotional breakdown when one of their body parts would disappear like that but the silver haired man was not a ninja for nothing. He was used to loose body parts and he regained his clear thinking.

Now things were looking really bad. He couldn't use any techniques and was unable to fight properly. He still didn't know how she let his arm disappear but he was sure, she could do it again anytime so it was rather pointless to continue attacking her.

He sighted and knew that he had lost so he covered his Sharingan with his left hand and smiled at them.

"You passed the test your highness. I must admit that I am very impressed, even though you still have to learn."

Elyon nodded slowly while Caleb was confused. Test? What test?  
"I hope you will explain yourself now." said Elyon, still looking angrily at Kakashi who nodded slowly.

With a wink of her hand the arm he had lost reappeared still with the charged technique but the copy ninja simply stopped it and looked at them.

"It seems that I owe you an apology for attacking you, let me explain…"

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A/N

So this chapter ends here, I hope you weren't disappointed with the fighting scenes, it was kind of hard to let Elyon fight against Kakashi since the degree of Elyon's power are relative unknown, but hey this is why writing is that much fun. So here is once again the attack guide.

Here is the attack description. For those who want to read more, I mostly orientated myself on the wikipedia entries of Naruto.

(1) _Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Multi-Size Technique)_ The user can increase any part of the body.

(2) _Cho Baika no Jutsu (Super Multi-Size Technique)_ The user increases all parts of his body and everything they hold, making them to giants.

(3) _Magen: Jubaku Satsu (Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death) _The user vanishes from sight and the victim thinks a tree grows out behind him, trapping him. Then the user comes out of the tree and is able to kill the victim. Although the tree and the disappearing is an illusion the user can kill the opponent.

(4_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique)_ The user creates a clone of water which has only ten percent of user original power. The clone can only have a certain distance to the user.

(5) _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)_ The user creates a solid clone out of nothing who can take a few blows before disappearing. It can perform jutsu´s as well and after being destroyed, all the knowledge it gained is given back to the user.

(6) _Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu_ (Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique) The user forms dragon out of water which hits the enemy

(7) _Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation__Technique) _ The user emerges from the ground and pulls the opponent into the earth, leaving only his head on the surface. 

(8) _Chidori (One Thousand Birds)_ The user collects charka, which turns into electricity in his arm and after collecting he activates his body and charges with high speed at the opponent. A Sharingan is needed for this technique, otherwise the opponent could avoid it and the user wouldn't have time to adapt to the new situation. While running, this technique makes the sound of hundreds of birds.


	4. The Great Defeat

Joe of the furlings and DarkInu418: Thank you for your reviews but Naruto won't be there for the next few chapters. Sakura might appear before but there defiantly won't be a romance between Sakura and Sasuke or Naruto. I am not really good in this stuff and you don't bug me with your questions, feel free to ask ;) .

z-nadka-za: If you say so I will try alone for a while but thanks for the offer anyways.

Sasha: I am glad you liked it.

Shiroi Misa: Now that's an interesting idea xD, thank you for your review.

Guardian's Light: I am sorry to say this, but in you PM wasnt an address to a site, but thank you for your review ;)

DayDreamer9: hehe, I am glad you enjoyed it, well you will see if some of your thoughts will come true, here is the new chapter.

Amyltrer: Yeah, Phobos knows pretty much about Orochimaru, I will explain it in some point of the story. I hope you will like this chapter as well

So without many words, here is the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could anyways.

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But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.

Paulo Coelho

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The Silver Dragon, the restaurant Hay Lin's family obtained, was used as a local meeting point for the Guardians since their founding and even before Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin met there on some occasions and this time was not an exception.

"So let me sum this up, okay?" started Will while eying all five ninjas. "You were sent by the Oracle, you know the bold one, who always says "you will know when the time is right", to help us with your weird powers?"

"This is correct." confirmed Shino, while watching Ino talking with Cornelia. As a matter of fact, nearly the whole group was watching those two girls, who almost looked like twins and if it not were for the clothing, you would think they were.

Irma sat there with a confused look at her face and looked rapidly first at one of them and then at the other. Then she turned around, looking rather helpless.

"Please tell me guys, which one of them is Corny." the Water Guardian pleaded and the whole room burst out laughing, save Shino and Neji of course but the latter smirked at least while Shino was expressionless as always.

"But I still don't understand why you wanted to fight us while we were untransformed? I mean it was clear we would have a great disadvantage." asked Taranee, after everyone was serious again.

"Yes you had a disadvantage but this was exactly what we wanted to show you." answered Ino, looking right into Taranee's eyes. "You are not always next to Will-sama or even in the same world. You lot need to defend yourselves even when you are not transformed."

Neji stepped for. "She is right Taranee-sama and we have discussed the outcome of the match and every one of us has noticed the same thing. While you have an immense capacity of mystic energy, better known to you as magic, you still lack control."

Hay Lin frowned. "I though we managed rather well until now. I mean we were able to defeat Phobos and Nerissa and all of their goons." She turned to Matt and grinned apologetically. "No offense there."

Matt shrugged with the shoulders and scratched Huggles. "None taken."

Shikamaru shook his head and looked up. "Yeah until now, but against us you would have lost if we all would have come with the intention to kill. This also includes the situation after your transformation." he interrupted when Cornelia tried to speak.

"I will admit a few of us were already low on chakra after the battle, like Neji or me, but then again none of us fought the way they would encounter a real opponent."

Irma glared at him. "Now you want to say you took easy on us because we are weak?"

Damn troublesome woman, now he had five more enemies and he really couldn't need them right now. How are you going to explain five girls that they had hardly enough training?

"No you are not weak, you just don't use your powers to full potential." He turned to Taranee "You proved excellent thinking back there when you used your fire to slightly control the shadows but you could have put your powers to a much greater use. You were only throwing fireballs but as the Fire Guardian you have absolute control about your element. All of you have, to be more creative, change the shape, make it hotter at times and not so hot at others. Use other mediums to combine it with your element, have a greater arsenal to use in your battles."

Neji nodded. "Simple, straight strikes with your elements will only help against opponents with either less skill or against opponents who are outnumbered but not against equals. In a one on one you lost against Nerissa, Phobos, the knights of destruction and us. "

"Technically" interrupted Irma. "We won all those encounters." Both Ninja simply looked at her, not bothering to answer.

"Well, while most of you can think, we know a few ways for you to increase your efficiency with your powers. We will teach you a few things you can do with chakra as well but don't get your hopes up, chakra and magic are two completely different things even though they have great similarities."

"Ehhh, cool?" said Will with a small smile. "So you came as some kind of trainers?"

Shikamaru sighted, "Well you can say that. But other then that we are under your command Will-sama."

"Stop there buddy, first of all cut this whole sama thing. It totally freaks me out to be referred as some kind of Queen."

"Well you can still call me Mistress." said Cornelia grinning, only to receive glares from the other four girls. "Fine, fine let's have it your way. Again!"

Choji, who had sat the whole time and munched chips slowly raised. "I think it is time for some of us to leave."

Shikamaru looked up and nodded. "Choji is right, well we have arranged a few teams. Four of us will return to Meridian to help watch the borders or deal with the enemies. Two will stay here, help you with your training and guard you if necessary."

The lazy ninja looked at Neji, signaling him to continue. "Hinata-sama, Choji, Shino and myself will leave to Meridian while Ino and Shikamaru will stay here, supervising your training and be responsible for your safety."

Neji walked slowly to his three companions and nodded, signaling them that he was ready.

"We will meet again Guardians. Shikamaru, Ino, don't let your guard down."

Shikamaru snorted and leaned back while Ino waved cheerily.

"Bye Hinata-chan, bye Choji-kun, bye Shino-san, bye arrogant ass."

The "arrogant ass" gave her a last glare while most in the room were chuckling and the four shinobi disappeared in a whirl of leafs.

"Nice leaving the scene move, do you think we could learn that?" awed Irma.

Naah, don't think so. They told us we were not able to pull off all their moves." answered Taranee while turning to Shikamaru and Ino. "So where will you two stay in the meantime? The others will have place enough in the palace but you…"

"We will search a nice spot which is relative near to all of your houses and there we will spend a few troublesome nights."

"Don't get your hopes up Shikamaru." grinned Ino "I am not that kind of girl."

Hay Lin, Irma and Matt burst out laughing while the others snickered and Shikamaru looked startled, surprised how she managed to turn their mission briefing into a farce with only one sentence. "Troublesome woman, you know what I meant." He turned around and closed his eyes to get some sleep, knowing that he would be not able to get much, after all he had to patrol the night around the city.

"You know that we can take care of ourselves." said Cornelia. "I mean we so don't need some baby sitters lurking around."

"Yeah we got that part covered by our parents remember?"

Ino shrugged and threw a scroll at Irma who had spoken last. "There are our orders, we will follow them and if you try to interfere we will have to be more strict." She turned to Cornelia smiling widely. "Except on you, someone as gorgeous as you shouldn't be punished, don't you agree?"

Cornelia had the same grin on her face and shook her hand. "I see we two will perfectly get along, after all we have nearly the same beauty."

Irma moaned "Great, that's exactly what we need, another Corny."

Meanwhile Shikamaru was grinning slightly. They had no idea what Ino was like…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The large group of sound nins, together with Phobos were now near the palace in a small cave, which once served as a hiding point for the Rebellion. The sound shinobi were gathered in small groups while Phobos was looking wishfully at the palace.

_Soon enough it will be mine again__. This world will be mine to rule._

Outside of the cave, Sasuke, Orochimaru and Kabuto were standing on a tree and Orochimaru was giving his last instructions.

"Did you understand your mission Kabuto?" The medical genius nodded and disappeared in the darkness of the night, leaving both traitors of the hidden leaf village alone.

The leader and founder of the sound turned to his most prized student.

"Like I promised, here is your sword of Kusanagi, Sasuke-kun. I am sure you will put it into good use."

"hmph." Sasuke took the sword wordlessly, strapped it onto the back of his belt, making it easy to grab it.

"So this is as powerful as yours?"

Orochimaru licked his lips with his unusually long and snakelike tongue. "Not quite, after all I obtain the very first Sword of Kusanagi. While there is for each sword type a Kusanagi they are not as powerful as the original. Still, they have far more power then most of the other swords, but I believe you will discover the benefits and advantages of that sword soon enough."

Sasuke looked skeptically, "We will see."

"That we will and now I would suggest that you should get some sleep. We will attack the prison in four hours."

Again Sasuke didn't answered but looked right into his eyes. "You said you would teach me that technique. Teach it now; I will need it if I have to fight the likes of him."

Orochimaru knew that he meant Phobos and was amused. So his container holds already a grudge against the prince, how very interesting.

"Are you frightened Sasuke-kun?" asked Orochimaru gleefully. "Do you doubt your skills?"

Sasuke only narrowed his eyes and jumped from the tree, put his hands into his pockets and walked slowly back to he cave.

Orochimaru watched the youngest Uchiha disappearing in the cave and chuckled. It was so easy to mess with this kid. Since he had the cursed seal his personality was changing and not for the better. He may have become a much better fighter but his common sense was and mental state was not really good. It seemed that his fighting capacities were growing but his mind was becoming younger and more childish.

Although Kabuto had warned him about the side effects the level two of the cursed seal could have on a thirteen year old boy he still decided to take the risk. After all, the last Uchiha was very special indeed.

He had to admit that he was nowhere near his brother level, not in matters of fight, of tactical genius or Sharingan. Oh, how had he longed after the body of Uchiha Itachi but fate had decided against it.

But the entrance of Phobos and this new world let him open thousands of new opportunities, something he would gladly use. What would happen if you mix magic and chakra? Can a ninja learn magic or vice versa? Can you transfer this magical life force to a ninja?

Questions over questions and each one made him more excited. This would be a most enlightening trip.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kabuto was racing with high speed towards the castle, the place where Queen Elyon was living and ruling. She seemed to be a very interesting person, how he longed to meet her. She grew up in another world, not knowing about her heritage, her powers, her fate and yet she managed to become one of the most powerful beings and one of the most popular rulers in less then a year.

This new world was fascinating, the anatomical structures of all the living beings here made Kabuto curious as hell. He was in first line a medic, finding out about cures, diseases and maladies was in his nature.

If he had any spare time, perhaps he would try to gather some information about the anatomical facts about the creatures living here, like the guards, the Lurdens and most importantly the magic users.

Not now though, right now he had several jobs to do. Orochimaru-sama ordered him to infiltrate the castle and to get as much crucial information about the enemy as possible. Even though they had Phobos-sama on their side, someone who knew the castle and their enemies well enough, it was better to have another one who was aware of the situation.

On the other side, before they had reached Orochimaru-sama, Phobos-sama wanted to have a few special artifacts from his old hidden room, which he used for his old experiments. As soon as he got there he had to drip some drops of the potion he carried with him on a special flower and, so he was told, the whisperers would awake again.

The prince had told him, that those were the most reliable source of information anyone could have and they were absolutely loyal to him and had their ears in whole meridian.

To fulfill those tasks he had endowed him with the power to produce his own glamour spell, but only around himself. A glamour spell, so he had found out was much better then any transformation jutsu. A transformation was a transformation only in the name, being rather an illusion while a glamour spell changed the reality and was much harder to discover. Only a strong magical force like Elyon or the Heart could break a glamour spell and it was not likely that Elyon would go around and cast revealing spells on all citizens.

But chakra was much easier to discover and it would be rather difficult to stay in a transformation for most of the time. He would need that chakra later, when he had to leave.

In exchange for this new power he had to swear that he would tell nothing to Orochimaru-sama about this and Kabuto did not intend to break that promise. It was not a wise thing o get on the bad side of Phobos, at least now.

After a few minutes he reached the castle, slowly beginning to explore. It was a moonless night, making it easier for him to stay unnoticed. The medical ninja walked the wall up, using his chakra and was soon enough in the more private place of the palace.

On his way he had to avoid a few guards and even caught a glimpse of the throne room. Of course he didn't make the mistake to go in; this would be an easy way to blow his cover.

So he concentrated on his new ability and changed his appearance to that of a regular guard. It was a good thing that the guards were almost looking identical. So Kabuto started to walk slowly towards the secret chamber until he saw someone he wasn't prepared to see…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the meantime Phobos, Orochimaru and the ninjas had positioned themselves outside of the prison. They had walked through the entrance and were now outside, waiting for the signal.

Phobos raised his hand, giving them the necessary permission to attack and all ninjas save Orochimaru disappeared, only to reappear in the prisoners room.

"Do you think your ninjas can handle this?"

Orochimaru just chuckled. "A few of them have a cursed seal. Even though the four who can go level two cannot participate in this attack they should be more then enough to handle a few of these weak guards."

A few minutes later one of the sound nins appeared in front of them. He bowed and spoke with a shaking voice. "We have problems, Orochimaru-sama. There are ninjas from Konoha."

While Orochimaru only raised an eyebrow, Phobos was shocked.

"More ninjas? THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE." He then turned to Orochimaru. "Didn't you say you got the most powerful ninjas at your service?"

The snake shinobi bowed apolitically. "It seems Konoha has sent his elite..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the room the guards, Hinata, Neji, Shino and Choji were having troubles to hold their ground against Sasuke and his twelve subordinates, most of them being at jonin level.

Choji was assisting them with Sandpit, combining their own strengths and interrupting all of the enemies attack patterns. The normal guards had merely a distracting function; the ninjas were more than able to dodge their attacks.

Hinata and Shino meanwhile would take on a great deal of shinobi, have worked together in a team for so long made it easy for them to assist each other, forming a duo who could hold his ground against the superior infiltrators.

One of the guards had slammed his sword in the blue crystal in the middle of the room, closing the doors and alarming he castle. While the door could be opened fast it was more then important to alarm the Queen and Caleb.

Meanwhile, Neiji and Sasuke were busy with each other;

"So we meet again, Hyuuga. Never thought I would see you weakling again."

Neiji smirked. "Maybe I am weak, but then again I am not the one who ran of to gain power through Orochimaru who had betrayed the village countless times." He narrowed his eyes, now glaring at the Uchiha. "Just like you."

"Rather to stay in that pitiful village, to which I have no more bounds I prefer to stay there, becoming stronger then ever." 

"Prove it." demanded Neji, activating his Byakugan, making the veins in his temples clearly visible. "Prove it that you are now so strong that it was worth to betray your comrades and village, the village that your family once guarded."

Even though the last comment made him thoughtful and angry, he decided to ignore it and activated his Sharingan. "I will Hyuuga and unlike the dead last who decided not to kill you, I will be no that gentle."

In mere seconds both were engaged in a high level hand to hand combat. Soon Sasuke noticed that he would have no chance, should he stay in close combat. With a giant leap he jumped back, winning ground between him and the Hyuuga.

Neiji was smirking again. "That was it Sasuke? To gain that skill you betrayed everyone?" Sasuke glared at him, now becoming angry, hand to hand combat was one of his specialties after all. He concentrated on his seal and red dots and stripes were coming out of his neck covering in seconds his whole body and turning black. Now with the cursed seal level one active, the battle was on the next stage. (1)

"No, this is the power. The power to destroy anything, anyone in my way to avenge the death of my family."

He rapidly started to form the hand seals for his signature jutsu. _"_Fire Release: Giant Fireball Technique!"

A giant fireball came towards Neji but he just jumped and hurled a few shuriken at the dark haired boy. To his surprise Sasuke caught them and threw them right back.

While Neji was blocking them with his kunai, Sasuke used this time to make other hand seals. He took a deep breath and out of his mouth several small fireballs came out. "Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique!" (2)

While still in midair Neji started to rotate and to release chakra out of his chakra holes at the same time, blocking the fireballs with his Heavenly Spin and landed safely an the ground.

He charged at the Uchiha and started to throw punches at him, which the missing nin successfully avoided, knowing that even one hit could be critical if the opponent was using the gentle fist.

His Sharingan eyes and the speed he gained from the cursed seal were making it nearly impossible for Neji to hit him, but this didn't mean he had the advantage at the moment. On the contrary, he didn't have any time for a serious counterattack.

While concentrating mainly on the hands of the Hyuuga he didn't paid much attention to his feet, which was a mistake. To Sasukes great surprise Neji kicked him and only his fast reflexes he gained through the seal saved him from a critical hit.

The Hyuuga was even able to use the gentle fist trough his feet and if he had been hit by that kick he would have coughed blood for the next three hours, there was an impressive amount of chakra inside.

"So this is all the prodigy of the Hyuuga clan has to offer?" taunted Sasuke, trying to cover the fact that he nearly lost the fight and maybe his life.

"They always told us that the Hyuuga were the strongest in Konoha, since the Uchiha were not there anymore. It seems to be a big fat lie."

Neji looked him straight in the eyes and shook his head sadly. "I can see that **you** lie. My Byakugan can see in the depths of your soul, I can see that you are unsure of your decision, I see that you regret what you have done and I see that you know the fact that you have not the power you want."

Sasuke gulped, sweat starting to build on his forehead, his face begun slowly to loose some color. "Did I hit a nerve Sasuke? Do you think you can fool a Byakugan? You can't hold eye contact with me, proving that I am right with my words. The fact that you are shaking is more then enough to tell me that you are afraid, afraid of the truth of my words."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and pulled out his sword, channeling as much chakra as he could into the katana and his legs. He charged and screamed. "JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Neji had expected such an assault but yet was not able to move fast enough to completely avoid the strike and received a huge cut in his left arm and shoulder, blood leaking from the deep wound.

"Shut up. You have no idea what I feel. You cannot understand the depths of hell I am going trough and now you come and claim to see everything with your eyes? I HAVE THE PERFECT EYES! With my Sharingan I can see things you cannot even dream about."

His voice became a whisper. "I will kill you, Hyuuga Neji. This will cut my bonds with the hidden leaf village once and for all."

Instead of Neji, he began to see his brother, the person he detested most. _Like I said before, in order to kill my brother, no matter how much darkness lies ahead, even if this means I have to kill old comrades who put their life's on the line for me, I will push through it._

"You want to kill me?" asked Neji, looking Sasuke straight into the eyes, gazing through the Sharingan. "Compared to me, you were never any good."

Sasuke screamed in rage and charged once again, just to avoid a huge cloud of insects. "Why are you interrupting Shino?" hisses Sasuke angrily at the bug user.

"I cannot let you harm a comrade. You have lost that status since the moment you betrayed us for power. He and Choji were in the team who followed you to get you back and suffered great injuries, while trying to do this."

"It does not matter for me what you lot have done. I am an avenger, I do not have any bonds with you anymore and the only bond I have is that of hate with my brother. Anything else is just a distraction, a nuisance! Something I have to destroy."

He concentrated the chakra he usually used for chidori and channeled it into his blade, making it a medium for electricity. This energy surrounded his body as well and his newest technique was ready for his first us in an actual battle. (3)

Now his whole body and sword covered in electricity he charged straight word towards Shino. The bugs in his way were disabled by the shocks he was continuously delivering and managed to slam his sword deep into Shino's stomach.

While he expected blood to come out the wound it was insects steaming out slowly covering his sword and body, now that the electricity had stopped.

_A bug clone? So his clone spoke the whole time._

To save himself there was only one choice now, he took a deep breath and flames came out of his mouth, burning the bugs and his hand. He winced in pain but managed to free himself and with a jump, he managed to get to the other ninjas who were now clearly in the advantage.

Suddenly three green beams materialized in the room and Caleb, Kakashi and Queen Elyon entered the battle zone. Right in this moment one of the ninjas left the room to warn Orochimaru and Phobos.

"You will stop this immediately." commanded Elyon, rising into the air, her hair floating by the immense force flowing through her.

"The vile creatures imprisoned in here are there for a reason and will not harm any innocent citizens again."

The remaining guards erupted in cheers now that Caleb and Elyon two of their greatest heroes had arrived. Elyon pointed her hand at the ninjas disabling a few of them with her magic, while the rest, along with Sasuke managed to get out of the attack.

The door opened and Phobos together with Orochimaru entered the room, having a vile smile on his lips.

"Ahh my dear Elyon, what a long time it has been."

"Not long enough brother!" spat Elyon. "I hope you came back to let yourself being imprisoned because that it what happened before and what will happen again!"

He shook his head in mock pain. "Is that a way to greet his beloved brother after such a long time? You really hurt my feelings."

Elyon was now red from anger. "I will hurt much more then your feelings." She hissed and collected her magic in her hands. This time her brother reacted faster and shot a beam at Kakashi who had to jump to avoid it.

This was the opening Orochimaru had waited for and the finger tips of his right hand started to glow blue. While Elyon was distracted with Kakashi and Phobos he used the body flicker technique to appear in front of her and slammed his right hand into her stomach. (4)

Elyon's eyes widened in surprise but fortunately Caleb was fast enough to whirl his sword at Orochimaru, disturbing him to completely establishing the seal, still it was enough for her to fall unconscious. He chuckled and looked at Caleb.

"You are a brave one, aren't you?" whispered Orochimaru, once again licking his lips with his abnormally long tongue but didn't get any reaction from Caleb who continued to glare fiercely at him.

"If you want to impress me with that you have to do better, monster face. I lived with non humans my whole life but hey you learn every day something new. Here I thought I wouldn't meet anyone uglier then Blunk but then I saw you."

Orochimaru looked amused. "You are brave, I will give you that, but you can't possible expect to beat me and every single one of my ninjas. Would you like to join our cause? I can see bravery and intelligence in your eyes and also the desire to be stronger. You saw how weak you are against a real opponent like a ninja." He paused looking him straight in the eyes "I can give you power."

Caleb didn't react but readied himself for an attack. "Never would I betray my Queen, my country and my friends. I didn't betray them to my own mother who promised me the same think as you, what makes you think I would do that for you?"

"What is your name boy?" asked Orochimaru, getting more content after every answer and chuckled again. But this time it sent shivers to Caleb.

"Caleb, remember it. You will want to take revenge after I brought you and your goons to prison."

"You will come to me Caleb-kun." He said. Suddenly he performed really fast a few hand seals and his neck become longer and before Caleb could react he was bitten in the right arm. Caleb was in pain, he dropped the sword and after a few seconds the pain was unbearable. Before he fainted he heard the man saying. "My name is Orochimaru; remember the name of your master you will serve soon. I can give you more power and you will seek me for it."

The world turned black for Caleb, leaving him in darkness and agony.

Orochimaru stared pleased at him. He made a good choice, he knew that. He saw the talent of the boy, his sharp mind and the potential. Phobos has told him everything he knew about the boy. He was a natural leader and he had united everybody who was against Phobos in a Rebellion and lead them. He found the guardians and was the main factor of the downfall of the prince. He was also the men who hold up the country.

He was nearly as popular as the Queen and if he would turn sides nearly the whole army would follow him and the demoralizing effect on those who stayed at the Queens side would be immense.  
It would be good to have a leader in his ranks, someone who would be in charge of his ninjas while he was busy with Kabuto and Sasuke-kun.

Strength wasn't always everything, a sharp mind was winning more often then brute strength, but right now, that didn't matter. He had a Prince to help who was engaged in a battle with said Prince and was holding his ground. For now.

He then heard a moan and saw the Queen getting up to her feet. This was strange, since she shouldn't have been able to get up for at least a day but then again he did not manage to completely hit her, thanks to the former rebel leader.

Elyon regained her consciousness and saw the wincing Caleb at the ground, and got angry.

She glared at Orochimaru. "You will pay for that!" Suddenly two hands of stone came out of the ground, trying to grab Orochimaru who managed to jump away.

Phobos was having the time of his life with Kakashi, both knew that the white haired jonin didn't have a great chance against him and right now the Prince was playing with his prey. He constantly read the mind of the copy ninja, thus being able to avoid all of his attacks and using telekinesis to stop from using his arms and legs properly.

Kakashi didn't say anything but grabbed to his back to fetch a few shuriken which her hurled directly a Phobos, who simply stopped them in midair, transforming them into big lances and guided them back towards Kakashi who was pierced trough several parts of his body.

Suddenly he turned to a log, leaving Phobos dumbstruck. He was sure then he could read the mind of this guy, so how did he manage to fool him? But this was not of great importance. He had to free his servants and with bolts coming out of his hands all prison gates opened, leaving everyone free.

Elyon, knowing that they were about to loose did the only thing she could think off. Summoning all her remaining strength she tele-transported all the guards, the four ninjas, Caleb and herself back to the Palace, in front of Julian and collapsed after a few last words.  
"Guardians…. Prisoners…free…"

Julian turned around called for the guards to alarm the guardians and to fetch medical help.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Before the attack

Silver hair sticking out of the head like a broom, a mask and a forehead protector covering half of his face and his nose in a small book which was well known in specific circles; Kabuto didn't thought that he would see the famous copy ninja Kakashi again that soon.

Even though he knew that he was fairly on the same level as the jonin, it was no secret, that a fight between them would most likely end in favour of Kakashi. He couldn't afford to fight him and then let him go either, the more techniques he copied from the medic the more difficult it would become to defeat him.

His best chance was now to let him be and hope that he would not see through this disguise with that Sharingan of his.

The person before him was a girl with sand blond hair, curled in two pigtails and was dressed in royal robes and seemed to be Queen Elyon, ruler of Meridian. The guy next to her was probably Caleb.

He was well informed about the key characters of the "good side" and knew that he needed every bit of information he could get, so deciding against his better judgement he performed the hidden camouflage technique, making himself invisible and followed the trio while they were marching towards the throne room in a safe distance. (5)

"So you have been send by the Oracle to protect the Queen, together with your subordinates?" asked Caleb, still doubting the story off the silver haired man who was far too powerful for a non magical being.

"How many subordinates were sent alongside you?"

Kakashi answered while still looking in the Come Come Paradise book, volume 8. "Six, but I am pretty sure that we will get reinforcements. All of them are formidable fighters two of them are real geniuses."

Given the fact that Kakashi fairly didn't meant the Uchiha brat it was perfectly clear to him that it must be the Hyuuga and the Nara boy he was talking about. Konoha may have a large amount on ninja but only few of them were only geniuses. Most of the best ninja had already deserted the village, leaving the candidates for the genius role relative small.

If they really send the Nara boy things would surely become more troublesome. They already had Caleb and his father, alongside Kakashi as tactical experts but with the intellect of the shadow user things surely would become rather difficult.

Then suddenly a horn was to hear and everybody perked up. "The horn of warning." Caleb turned to Elyon. "My highness, the prisoners are about to be freed."

Elyon clinched her fists. "Then we have to stop them." She looked at Kakashi. "I hope I can count on your aid." The copy ninja looked up, put his book away and nodded.

"I am at your service my highness, but now, right after the fight against you, my chakra is not completely recovered."

"It will do it." Said Elyon and with a wave of her hand, they immaterialized in three green beams but Kabuto could swear, that right before vanishing Kakashi had looked right to the place where he was hiding.

He decided to drop the camouflage and became visible again, but was still in his guard form. Kabuto smiled at the thought of Kakashi. The task of fooling Kakashi was harder then he thought and had the copy ninja been on his full strength he probably had attacked him right away. So it was for the best not take any further chances and get to the secret room as soon as possible.

To find the room was easier then expected, it was right before the throne room and you entered it by muttering a key word, which was in this case "Kantadosp" While the meaning of this word remained unclear to the medic, if served his purpose. It was rather unlikely that someone would use this word in that particular place without knowing that here was a secret entrance.

So after walking in the hidden room he was not as surprised as he thought he would be. The room was full of books, small and large boxes, a few plants and a large table with laboratory devices. It didn't look that different from his labour in Orochimaru-samas lair.

After collecting the wanted artefacts and taking a few books he found rather interesting he left the room, just in time to see Julian in front of him, barking orders to a guard, about alarming the Guardians, and getting medical treatment for the Queen.

Kabuto dropped his bag behind a plant and changed his glamour spell from that of a guard to the appearance of a medic in the world of Meridian.

He sat in front of Queen Elyon and began to analyse her, Kakashi being occupied with the ninjas and Caleb. Julian was sitting next to Caleb as well, worrying about his son.

"What has happened to him? What are those black dots on his arm?"

Black dots after a fight with Orochimaru-sama? Why did that sound familiar and after a glance his suspicions were confirmed.

Caleb had received a cursed seal of heaven from Orochimaru-sama. Kabuto frowned, what was the meaning of this? Even with his limited information's he knew that this boy would never betray his Queen and world. His past was full with situations were he could leave them but he didn't. So why bother to give him a cursed seal?

But Kabuto banned these thoughts from his head concentrating on the Queen. As far as he could tell she did not have any heavy injuries, only a few slightly damaged ribs, those coming from the five elemental seal on her stomach and there was nothing he could or would do against, but he decided to weaken it a bit more. He performed a quick illusion and right after that he let his left hand glow blue and started to pump chakra in that part of the skin, where the seal was, and so loosen it up. After a quick healing of her ribs he decided it was best to leave before Kakashi had recovered enough to detect him.

Prince Phobos and Orochimaru-sama were awaiting him in the prison, where he should hurry. Things turned up rather interesting.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Blunk was not the most popular being, was it earth or meridian but even though he was not appreciated in most of the times, he too had helped with serving the sides of light to win their battles.

As a matter of fact he played one of the key roles to lead the rebellion to victory.

He might have a small problem with properties but hey, everybody has flaws. Well, Blunk might have a few more with his reeking smell and thinking that everything he could see could be stolen but he was trying to reduce it.

Okay, trying may be a hard word but at least he was thinking about trying. Anyways now after opening a fold to earth right into the Silver Dragon.

When he appeared there, the ninjas and some of the Guardians were just about to leave but he managed to get there just in time.

"Blunk… what are you doing here?" asked Will, looking alarmed. While Ino looked disgusted.

"What's with that smell?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know." assured Irma, shaking her head.

"Girls must hurry. Phobos attacked prison and Queen."

Cornelia jumped up immediately. "Elyon is hurt? We have to go."

Will nodded and grabbed the heard of Kandrakar, opening a portal to the throne room in Elyon's castle.

The five Guardians, two ninjas, one reign and one Passling jumped through the fold reappearing in front of the throne room.

"Elyon… CALEB!" cried Cornelia, rushing to her best friend and her boyfriend.

Ino's eyes widened and she ran to Neiji, as it seemed he was the one who needed treatment most. Her hands started to glow in green and she began to heal his wounds, while Shikamaru was talking with Hinata, Choji and Shino.

Will and the other girls were surrounding Julian and asking him about the situation.

"We know that the prisoners have been freed and were just about to send the army there, the Queen appeared ordering us to call the Guardians first. With the Queen and my son now being immobilized it is up to me and Aldarn to command over the forces, but with you guardians here you might as well take the command."

Will nodded. "But how did they manage to overcome you? I mean with Sandpit, five ninja, the guards, Caleb and not to forget Elyon, how could they loose?"

This time Shikamaru interrupted. "It seems that they were outwitted by Orochimaru and this Phobos guy who combined their powers to take her down."

Kakashi nodded. "Orochimaru belongs to the strongest ninjas in history and is far stronger then myself. As a matter of fact, I can only think about four ninjas who could fight him in a one on one. And when I understand it correctly, this Phobos is quite powerful too."

"You got that right." muttered Taranee, helping one of the medics, to warm up water.

"But what happened to Elyon and Caleb?" asked Cornelia, really concerned about them.

"The boy received a cursed seal by Orochimaru. I won't talk this sweet, this thing can consume his soul, even kill him. So I have to seal it. This won't make it go away but build his defenses. And for the Queen, it seems her powers have been slightly sealed. This means she is not as powerful as always, having limited reserves on magic."

"Can you break it?" asked Hay Lin but was devastated when she saw Kakashi shook his head. "Orochimaru is on a far more advanced level with sealing and I know only one who is more skilled in that area and that would be Jiraya-sama."

"Then go and get this guy."

"Unfortunately his away on a protecting mission and has gone into hiding with that particular student. We won't see him for at least five other months."

"So what can we do about Elyon now?" wanted Cornelia to know, desperation leaking in her voice. Kakashi sighted and picked Caleb up to seal the cursed mark.

"First we have to wait and see to which degree her powers have been weakened. If she is strong enough she might break it herself." He started to walk out of the room.

"But I have to finish this business now. Please sent a few medics right after me, I don't think either of us will be able to move after this."

"So this is dangerous?" asked Will. "You are going to do some crazy ninja stuff on him and expect us to let you go ahead without asking any questions?"

The copy ninja eyed her coldly. "Of course you can ask what you want and I would answer to your questions Guardian-sama, but our dear friend here might not survive."

Everybody gulped but Matt putt an assuring hand on Will's shoulder. "I am going with him, don't worry." Will nodded and Matt walked after Kakashi.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Orochimaru was worried and this didn't happen that often, after all most things he planned turned out just as he had expected. Of course putting someone as reliable as Kabuto in charge did help to get the things done and you could count on it to happen.

But now he was experiencing the same agony, the same pain, the same feeling of being much weaker then usual again. His arms had begun to turn black, right after he used the sealing technique on the little Queen.

The fact, that she possessed a greater capacity of energy then him must have put a lot more stain to his arms then he thought and if he didn't get treated right now he was sure he would be in he same state he was before taking this new body.

He could sense that Phobos was watching him with glee, silently enjoying seeing him in this state, weak and vulnerable. He was pretty sure that the Prince could do something about his condition but choose not to, just to see him suffering.

"It seems that you are in pain, my dear friend." stated Phobos, grinning about the condition his partner in crime was in. "What happened to your arms? They seem to take the color of your soul."

Orochimaru chose not to respond, knowing that he should not give in the taunts of the Prince, now that he knew how vulnerable he really was. Kabuto should arrive better in time or he would take out his anger on the next person he would see.

He decided to change the topic. "I have difficulties to understand why you don't free those two of their prison, Phobos-kun. They seem to be the two most powerful around here."

Phobos mood faded when he remembered Cedric and Miranda. "Oh yes, those two are the most magical and best trained of my subordinates but unfortunately they lack the most important ting I expect from my soldiers." He glared at them, lighting surrounding him in a threatening manner.

"Loyalty!"

Cedric, in his human form, bowed. "Please forgive us my liege I don't know what came over me."

"Cedric, I know too well what overcame you. The longing for power, my power. If you had warned me instead of betraying me we would have won. The universe would be mine to command. Instead I am stuck in a prison where I have to stand your pitiful presence."

This time it was Miranda in her girl form. "Please forgive us your highness. We won't disobey you ever again."

"Yes you won't, Miranda my dear." threatened Phobos, while charging a beam in his hand.

Right then a whirl of leafs appeared and Kabuto walked towards Orochimaru, opening his mind, allowing Phobos to read his mind.

"I have the information you asked for Orochimaru-sama. There are seven ninjas, two of them at jonin level while the other five are at chunin level. I suppose you have met Hatake Kakashi and Hyuuga Neiji so it is safe to safe, that they are not that great of a threat."

Phobos snorted. "For someone who shouldn't be a threat, they sure hold their ground against you inferior ninjas."

Cedric, quite relieved, that Phobos had forgotten about Miranda and him stepped back into the shadows of his cell, hoping it would remain that way.

Lucky for him Phobos had other things on his mind, like Kabuto who had brought the desired artifacts. He took the bag and checked the inside and with a content smile on his lips he looked at the medic nin.

"Perfect." While Kabuto started to take care of Orochimaru's arms Phobos once again turned to Cedric.

"It seems you are lucky, my old friend. I am in such a good mood that I am willing to free you two again." With a few bolts out of his hand the bars of Cedric's and Miranda's prison vanished.

"But of course I have to make sure you two won't betray me again." He started t make complicate maneuvers with his arms and a circle of purple energy appeared around the two shape shifters.

"Both of you belong to me, you are mine to control. When I say something you do it without any question. If I order you to die, you will die. If I order you to rip your own arms off, you will do it. Otherwise I will send you through ways of pain that you will wish to be dead."

A maniacal grin appeared on his face and his voice became a silent but threatening whisper. Everybody in the room tensed and waited for the next words of the fallen prince.

"But you won't die. No matter how hard you try, my magic will keep you alive. With that spell I placed on you I can kill you whenever I want, just with the thought or I can make you feel the promised pain. Obey me and nothing of that will occur."

His face became serious again. "Now Cedric and you too Miranda, are you willing to server me?"

Without hesitation both bowed down. "We want to serve you my prince."

Phobos smiled and turned to Orochimaru, whose arms were once again the pale white like before and Sasuke's burning arm seemed to heal slowly under Kabuto's care.

"Now we have an army to reach our goal. The side of my sister is weakened and I dare to say that the Guardians have already arrived. We will rest for today and tomorrow we will mach to the castle."

Orochimaru didn't say anything and looked at his arms. This cursed Sarutobi-sensei, his last technique proved to be very powerful indeed. Even with a change of the body he still couldn't use his arms like before. If there was too much stain they would fall back to their lifeless state.

If it were not for Kabuto he would have died long ago, he knew that, but still, he was not entirely sure of Kabuto's goals. He knew that his right hand man was following his own

Goals and it amused and irritated him at the same time that he didn't know them.

Sure, in his organization he was only second strongest to him and the one who he trusted most, actions like that made him doubt. Orochimaru knew nothing about the bag and what it contained, but after all it was the not knowing which made the life interesting, wasn't it? If you had nothing to find out, life would be rather boring indeed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_the cursed seal (__Juin,)_ This is a seal given by Orochimaru to his most powerful followers. He bites them and then a strange, black tattoo like seal will appear on their bodies, giving them a much greater chakra capacity, strength and speed. In level one black dots are covering the whole body, enhancing his abilities bit putting a stain on his body. The more often it is used, the greater is the chance for them to loose their personality.

_Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique)_ Several smaller fireballs are coming out of the users mouth.

_Chidori Nagashi (One Thousand Birds Current)_ Using the energy of chidori it doesn´t concentrate electricity on a single spot but in the whole body. When the enemies is being hit it paralyses him.

_Gogyo Fuuin (Five Element Seal) _It partly seals the power or energy of the opponent away, making it impossible for the enemy to use it, unless the seal is broken.

_Meisaigakure no Jutsu (Hiding Camouflage Technique)_ It turns the user invisible and let' most signs of his appearance like smell vanish for the most part, making it nearly impossible to be detected.


	5. The Ongoing

Matt was leaning against wall with crossed arms, watching carefully every single thing Kakashi was doing. First the copy ninja had placed Caleb in the exact middle of the room and stripped his shirt off, so they could see the cursed seal at his right arm. Then he slashed his thumb with a kunai and started to write weird signs all over the room, using his blood as ink, in a special pattern and in every circle he placed a kunai.

All signs lead to the cursed mark and after the preparations were done Kakashi leaned for, so he could be sure, that Caleb would be listening.

"This will cause you a great among of pain." He warned the young man, who was gritting his teeth.

"Just…do…it!"

Kakashi nodded. "Well then." Immediately he started to perform several hand signs and pressed both of his hands on cursed mark. Suddenly all the signs started to crawl towards the signs disappearing there. As soon as the signs began to move Caleb started to scream in agony and pain, while the ink and chakra mercilessly burned into his skin.

Matt stepped forward, clinching his fist. "Stop, you are hurting him!"

Kakashi didn't look up but after a few seconds he was finished and Caleb collapsed to his feet, breathing heavily. Now the white haired man bothered to look at Matt who was already at Caleb's side, saying things to calm him down.

"It's all right mate. You will make it." When he looked up this very moment to give Kakashi a piece of his mind he was beyond shocked to see him shaking his head.

"What do you mean by this?" asked Matt, too terrified to think about the logical consequences.

"I am sorry to say this but even with me sealing the mark, there is a slim chance for him to survive this. For Ninjas, who trained their bodies to use chakra and learned to endure pain, there is only a ten percent chance of surviving but Caleb who, as skilled as he may be, is only a normal human with no such treats. Sure he may have a pain tolerance but does not have the resistance against chakra like a ninja.

I am afraid to say there is only a very slim chance for him to survive."

"Is there nothing we can do about it?" asked the young boy, his voice trembling. Even though they didn't know each other that long, a bond had already formed between Matt and Caleb. First it seemed they were just similar in personalities but it appeared that they shared more than that on the second look.

While Caleb was already included in most of the adventures the girls had and always assisted them, Matt was more of an outsider. Will forbade him to come along, thinking it was too dangerous for him. Well thinking back, she did have a point. He was inexperienced, had no special powers and almost no knowledge about Meridian.

With time he learned from Caleb to become a warrior, but even then, he was nowhere as good as him and still perhaps this was the thing they had on common. Both didn't have any powers, while being surrounded with magical beings. Frost, Tracker, Cedric, Phobos, Nerissa, the Knights of Vengeance and C.H.Y.K.N. All of them had either magical or superhuman powers, leaving them behind nearly defenseless.

While Caleb had still his experience and his skills as a warrior to rely on, most times he wouldn't have survived if it was not for the Guardians.

Then after he was rescued by Will and the others from the claws of Shagon and Nerissa he fought alongside Caleb and the royal army to rescue Meridian. He was blessed by Lillian to hold one third of her powers and now was able to transform into Shagon, but keeping his own mind and finally giving him the powers he longed for, powers which didn't stand back to those of the guardians.

So he was able to do his part in the war and had many encounters with enemies since then. May it Lurdens or for one case ninjas. To make a long story short Caleb was now one of Matt's best friends and he would be damned if he let him die. The rebel leader was one of the persons Matt looked up most, having survived in this world of magic with no powers and even played one of the key roles. Matt did understand the importance, having no powers for a time himself and knowing how small and unimportant someone could feel, being surrounded by superhuman beings.

"Is there nothing we can do to help him?" yelled Matt, the pain he felt melting into his words.

Kakashi shook his head, knowing how the boy must feel.

"Well I would be lying if I would say that I know everything your magic can do but with the Queen out for at least three days and no specialized medic around I simply see no chance for him." He looked at Caleb, pity mirroring in his eyes. "This is such a shame to loose a brave, brilliant mind like him."

"Aren't there doctors in your world who can help him?"

Once again the copy ninja made eye contact.

"Do you think it is that easy to enter our world? Also even though we have medics who would be able to help, they perhaps couldn't simply because they have no time and we only have perhaps five who would be able to help him. Hokage-sama but being the leader she can't leave, my former student Sakura, who can't while being on a mission to the village hidden in the clouds, Shizune who is chief assistant of the Hokage and the other two are probably rather busy with the other three not available."

Matt narrowed his eyes. "I don't care! One of them can at least come here and tell the medics here how to treat it."

"Why not ask your Oracle, I bet he knows what to do." suggested Kakashi, not affected by the outburst of the boy. "You must understand that this is not something I can decide."

Matt didn't respond but transformed into Shagon, picked up Caleb and left the room, leaving an exhausted Kakashi behind.

When Matt had brought Caleb to the healing chamber, he wasn't surprised to find the girls already there, together with the ninjas and more importantly Elyon, who was already changed into a white robe and was lying there, unconscious as expected.

"Hi there." He greeted them and gave the rebel boy to the healers and had to avoid a rushing Cornelia, who hurried to her boyfriend.

"Hey." said Will, hugging Matt, now that he was human again.

"What happened to him." asked Hay Lin, concern in her voice. Even though all the girls knew Caleb well and that Corny was his girlfriend, still she was the one who had spent the most time with him. Both had worked in the Silver Dragon, having many conversations, fooling around, laughing about him going "rebel leader", as Corny would say, on the customers and about the fact that he had to work with those strange earthlings and sometimes forcing him to be a dress up boy, so she could experiment on her self made clothing.

They shared many happy moments, together with her grandma and if something happened to him, she knew, it would be never like before. It was no love which connected her to Caleb, she was sure of it. This was a bond of friendship, something which has formed over the last years, fighting alongside each other, trusting the other to watch their backs. You just couldn't spend a year or two fighting evil, twisted loons with someone and not expect to form a tie.

Irma, Will and Taranee thought almost the same about the rebel leader. All of them were saved countless times by him and in return they saved him. They all learned to love his comparisons of earth things with some kind of weird meridian monster or when he told some of his past adventures just to impress Cornelia (and them by the way).

A time to remember was when at his second day on earth he attacked a gang of rockers, who did nothing but hearing loud music, but unfortunately for them, their clothing and hair style resembled that of an evil sect in meridian which was one of the minor threads, but a thread nonetheless. So he attacked them, poor guys, they didn't have chance. Not when there was someone wanting to beat you to a pulp because he thinks you belong to a gang who kidnaps children and raises them as some sort of slaves, especially not when that someone has years of fighting experience.

Luckily they were able to calm him down before things get out of hand, well before it got more out of hand. So Caleb apologized and left with us the scene. Not that they felt better after this, some of them weren't able to hear him and the others were too scarred to response.

Thinking back it was only hilarious or just like the time at Will's birthday when Elyon tried to chat him up and Caleb just walked away to get a bucket for some wicked dance. Irma and Hay Lin were still laughing hard about that and they teased Elyon and Caleb as often as they could.

Taranee and the others had many happy memories with him and just couldn't imagine loosing the proud warrior. So it was a huge shock when Matt answered silently.

"This ninja guy said that there is only a very slim chance for him to survive, because this was a technique to use on ninjas and even they have only a ten percent chance of surviving."

The girls gasped and they immediately looked at the ground, not knowing what to say.

"Sure magic could help him?" asked Will, clinging on the only hope left for them. "I mean if we can transform into Guardians and can open folds and such, why not healing him."

"Because" echoed Kakashi's voice from behind, apparently having followed Matt. "This is not a wound, not literally anyways. It is a seal, there isn't anything broken or wounded. This is something which strains his will and what you would call life force."

He slowly sat on a bed and looked at the one across the room, where Ino and Hinata were sleeping. "Perhaps Ino and Hinata could do something about it, both have medical knowledge after all, but with the amount of chakra they spend to heal the guards, Elyon and the other ninjas, I fear they won't be awake for at least a day. There is the possibility that Hinata will wake up earlier but Ino, the more experienced of them, has no large reserves of chakra. Still I don't expect them to be able to help him; you would need an experienced or well trained Medic for that."

He looked at Neji and Choji who were sitting in the near and were also not very cheerful.

"Also Elyon is weakened and unconscious so your greatest possible magic user is out cold."

Will grabbed into her blouse and pulled out the heart of Kandrakar. Kakashi looked up interested. "I was told you do not know to control the Heart to his full extinct."

"You were told right but it can't harm to try can it?" the mystical artifact started to glow more intensively. "After all, there is a first time for everything."

She put it between her hands and concentrated on one single thought, _heal Caleb, heal Caleb, heal Caleb!_

A violet sphere formed around Caleb, trapping him inside. "What have you done?" asked Taranee, amazed by the display of magic. "It is not a common trap bubble, is it?"

"It kinda looks like the veil bubble the oracle and the old geezers were trapped in." commented Irma.

Meanwhile Neji had activated his Byakugan only to realize, that he couldn't see through the barrier. Strangely he could with his normal eyes.

"Surely there are similarities, Will and Nerissa have both the same fundament of their powers, Quintessence." guessed Taranee, eying the bubble closely.

"So this will heal him?" asked Cornelia, looking empathic.  
"Well, all I am sure of is that this won't harm him."

"Isn't that comforting?" snorted Cornelia, not realizing the effects of her words. Will's head dropped and she looked like she was going to cry. She wasn't there to help Caleb, she didn't know how to use her powers and the heart perfectly like Nerissa could do and she wasn't sure what the bubble was doing to Caleb. What kind of leader was she anyways?

Irma glared at Cornelia. "Sheesh, Corny, why don't you kick her too? I mean she is trying to save his life, she so deserves to be treated like dirt by you!"

Cornelia knew she wasn't fair but right now she needed a scapegoat and like often this was Will. The blonde Guardian knew she was a prat right know, but this seemed to be always the easiest way, to blame the bad situation on the person in your near.

"Knock it off you guys, there is no reason to fight." tried Hay Lin to calm them down.

"No reason? Did you hear her Hay Hay?" asked Irma incredulously but was interrupted by Taranee.

"There is no reason to start an argument while everybody is so tense. Let's just head home; we can't do anything here anymore."

The girls were silent for a minute and then left the room after a short nod to the ninjas. Kakashi sighted and looked at Neiji and Shikamaru. "So the first thing we train would be teamwork, wouldn't it?"

"This is so troublesome…."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On the next morning most of the troops of Orochimaru and Phobos were ready to attack slowly started to leave the prison, with the palace of Meridian as destination. The prison, so it was decided, should serve as their first base and Orochimaru would be staying there together with the new Sound four, his personal honor guards.

While the Lurdens and the remaining ten sound ninjas were already heading towards the castle, Kabuto and Sasuke were with Orochimaru to receive their final orders.

"Try not to kill the Guardians Sasuke-kun, the longer they stay alive the longer they will be a threat to Phobos, as we are not strong enough to deal with him right now. When both sides are weakened, this will be the moment we strike."

"This is the way of a coward." said Sasuke, looking rather amused by Orochimaru's sudden display of weakness. But the sannin only glared at him. "This is the way of a ninja."

The sole survivor of the Uchiha clan shrugged and started to walk away, leaving Kabuto and Orochimaru alone.

"Respect is something he will never learn." commented Kabuto dryly, now having put up with Sasuke for two years, he was already used to his rude behavior.

Orochimaru on the other hand had never minded it, he found it rather entertaining to have a subordinate with enough backbone to be rebellious. Kabuto was far too polite and well mannered to be that way.

"This ungrateful brat." hissed Orochimaru, showing an unusual opening in his feelings. Kabuto knew, had any other of his subordinates had witnessed this beside Kabuto, that person would be dead.

"Watch him Kabuto, do not let him kill the Guardians or the Queen, we will need them, but slaughter as many Leaf Shinobi as possible."

"As you wish." bowed the young medic and disappeared.

Phobos in the meanwhile was glad, really glad. He had his army back, had found strong assistance in the ninja and was now on the way to conquer his palace and kingdom back. He was sure that nothing that the Rebels had would be enough to stop him. Orochimaru had told him that his sister wouldn't be able to witness the battle let alone to participate in it and even when the highly unlikely aspect really happened she would be on the same level as him in terms of magical powers.

In that case Phobos would have clearly the upper hand, having great experience in the ancient arts of the arcane for several hundred years while his sister had hers for only one ridiculous year.

After a few minutes the palace finally came in sight and a grin appeared on his face.

"Cedric, prepare the troops." he commanded. His not so faithful second in command bowed and transformed into his fearsome snake self, growing larger until he was a creature the mythology mostly referred as a Naga.

He roared, letting all his frustration and anger out in that battle cry, wanting to release it all in this battle. The roar, Kabuto was sure, could be heard in the castle as well. Cedric raised his arm and yelled loudly.

"ATTACK!"

He then charged forwards together with frost on his Rhino. With an incredible speed the rushed towards the main gate of the castle and before the first arrows hit them they crashed forcefully against the heavy door, nearly ripping it from his ankles.

The horn of warning was heard and countless soldiers took their respectful place in the castle defense, firing arrows at the oncoming enemies.

Cedric was not in really in danger, arrows couldn't penetrate his skin, only the sharpest weapons or really strong blows could injure him, something he knew from experience the Rebels didn't have. Unless they hit him in the eye he was not in real danger and the Guards had proven countless times their inability to hit even the greatest targets so no danger from that side.

Frost, the hunter blocked most of the arrows with a shield he picked up in the prison and Crimson, his Rhinoceros, didn't need some kind of protection against the arrows, having a thick skin similar to Cedric's.

After a few great strikes with his tail, the gate finally broke, giving the army of Phobos now the option to enter the castle.

Miranda and a few ninjas had climbed the walls and were causing havoc in the lines of the soldiers, winning inch after inch of the ground.

Drake, one of the highest ranking captain's in the royal army and rebellion was leading his troops without fear.

"Fight, don't give up. Whole Meridian is counting on us to hold our ground until the Guardians and the Queen arrive."

He blocked the attack of a Lurden and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him flying backwards against another one.

Meanwhile the ninjas had finally joined the fight, battling the Shinobi of the other side. Neji was encountering one who was already using level one of the cursed seal but the young Hyuuga was not known to be a genius for nothing. He could keep up with him and was now engaged in a fierce hand to hand combat.

Choji was fighting two opponents, neither of them using their cursed seals, instead having a "normal" fight.

Shino and Hinata were now encountering Sasuke who had already revealed his sword.

"So you two want to stop me? You should know better."

Neither of them replied but instead took their respective stances and Shino let out his insects, knowing that the Uchiha had experienced them more then once, so the surprise effect was already lost.

Sasuke charged forwards, trying to chop Shino's head but Hinata jumped in front of him and slammed her hand in his stomach but Sasuke vanished before she could hit him. Her eyes widened, now witnessing his extraordinary speed for the first time.

"Too slow Hyuuga." she heard his voice behind her. She knew she couldn't react in time but before Hinata or Shino could do something a blur appeared between her and Sasuke, stopping his attack.

"Shino, Hinata, go and help the others, I will take care of him." ordered Kakashi. The two nodded and disappeared to help Choji who was now slowly getting into trouble. Neiji didn't seemed to need help and Ino was defending Shikamaru and Julian who were now tying to get the better hand in this combat.

Kakashi stared at his former student, looking right in his eyes, trying to find guilt or regret but the only thing he could see was the coldness in the black eyes of Sasuke.

"Why?" was the only thing he asked.

"You know why." responded the youngest Uchiha alive.

"I know the reason you longed for power, but why Orochimaru? You can be strong in Konoha too. The strength Orochimaru is offering is no real strength."

Sasuke smiled, "You still don't understand me Kakashi. I don't want to earn something, nor do I want to have a fair match against my brother. I want to kill him, no matter how, no matter with what power, as long I am the one who kills him. I said that I would do anything to gain the power I need and Orochimaru is the fastest way. I can't waste my time in Konoha, fooling around."

He pointed at Neji. "He was once stronger then me but now with Orochimaru's training I can defeat him and so I will bring my brother down. He will die from my hands and if I lose my life and everything I have the second later I killed him I will die happily."

Kakashi didn't say anything and shook his head. "You still won't come to your senses, so you give me no other chance to capture you by force."

Sasuke smirked cruelly. "I am not the weak student anymore you could play with while reading a bloody book. Now I have strength greater then yours. My Sharingan has developed to that of your level but I have two and can use it nearly all the time while you have not that advantage."

"Confident as always." replied the copy ninja unimpressed. "But you are still a foolish student I have to teach something." He lifted his Forehead protector the same time Sasuke activated his bloodline limit. Sharingan's were staring at each other and a fierce battle begun.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Will and the other stepped out of the fold right at the top of the castle were they could overview the battle. They saw Gargoyle stopping and hitting Lurdens while Sandpit was causing havoc in the midst of them.

Cedric was fighting against Shino and Miranda was keeping Hinata busy while Choji was rolling around trying to crush every enemy on sight.

Ino was slightly injured and was engaged in a fight against Frost and Shikamaru was barking orders to the troops, apparently founding a strategy.

"Every time we came hear we see Guards and soldiers fighting each other to death. Someone should find a hobby."

"Not the time Irma." said Will and transformed them into their respective Guardian forms. "Okay, spread and assist them. Look out for Phobos and warn the others as soon as possible. Never attack him alone."

"Roger fearless leader."

"Aye aye captain."

"Totally got it."

"Sure thing Will."

Will glared at them for that performance. "Just go."

The four girls left her grinning and Will flew to Shikamaru and Julian to get the newest reports."

"The Guardians." said Julian in great relief. "Thank goodness."

Shikamaru didn't even look up, but saw at the plans of the castle with concentration. "Can you get that giant thing over there to attack that tower here. Once this caves in, it will crush mostly on the Lurdens and will give us enough time to escape."

"Escape?" asked Will incredulously. "Why escape? We can still manage it."

Shikamaru shook his head. "How? We are outnumbered and partly outclassed. It is only a matter of time until that Phobos will enter the battle field and then we will be defeated in mere seconds."

"We can still win, right now with us Guardians here, we can drive most of the Lurdens back. With your help we should be able to push the Ninjas back too and Phobos and we are nearly even matched."

The lazy genius wasn't pleased. "This is not a plan it is a mere thought, but for now we will stick for it and hope that the other boy will arrive too."

Will nodded and glanced to the main tower where Irma washed a battalion of Lurdens away with an incredible wave and saw how Shino was hit by a kunai in his right leg. She winced at that sight an turned again to the both strategists.

"I hope so too, back on earth I send Blunk immediately to fetch him and the Regents. With a bit of luck in a few minutes three powerful warriors will join our ranks."

"Troublesome situation but we have to cope."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile said powerful warriors were in Matt's room and had a rather pointless discussion. It appeared that the Hales minus Cornelia had gone to a party, being invited by one of the rich clients of Mr. Hale and they had asked Matt if he could keep an eye on Napoleon while they were away, not really trusting the cat to behave correctly while they were gone.

While Napoleon possessed a mind and intellect far greater than most humans, especially Matt's how he liked to point out, he still behaved not very cat like. Sitting in front of magazines and zapping trough the TV channels was not what you would expect from an animal.

Not an animal from earth, that is. So they left Matt in charge, something which happened rather often these days since Cornelia had mentioned it to her parents that Matt's grandfather owned a pet shop and that Napoleon came from there, thus making him ideal to watch him. Matt had agreed, not quite eagerly, but agreed none the less. After all, you couldn't ignore a direct request from the Heart of Earth, could you?

Lillian might not know it and even the Guardians seemed to be unaware of it but Matt was bound to obey everything she said, as were Mr. Huggles and Napoleon. She gave them her powers but at the same time bind them to her, making the three her very own subordinates.

To make a long story short Napoleon was together with Matt and Huggles and was rather annoyed. He did like it to talk to someone as he couldn't at the Hale's when Cornelia was not the only one in the room but he sure didn't liked to sit here in this room, hearing the rat munching the whole time or the boys display of "music".

Couldn't he play piano or something like that? What he did with that strange guitar was everything but real music. "Drop the abomination you call an instrument boy and let me have some peace. There are dogs out there who can bark more pleasantly then your "play"."

Matt didn't bother to respond but quit playing. He glared at the cat and started to look out of the window, watching the clouds changing their form. That one looked like a captain's hat.

This reminded him. "Hey fur ball." He said, glancing at the cat. "As we all are regents of earth it would be only approval to have a leader among us, you know, someone who takes charge and stuff."

Napoleon eyed him wryly. "And I suppose it should be you who takes that position?"

"Well look it that way, who has saved the earth more often, a cat or a human? Well my guess is the human so it makes me the leader." He grinned at his logic, thinking to have won an argument for once.

Boy was he wrong. "Than you should look it this way boy; who was more often the cause to bring the earth into a situation where it should be saved, a human or a cat? Let me answer you it was defiantly the human."

Once again he lost a battle of words against a cat. "So this makes you not really fitting into this position and there is no way I am going to take orders from a rat."

"Dormouse." corrected Matt automatically.

Napoleon shrugged. He knew it of course, but he wouldn't start to call it by his real name. Even after all intelligence and maturity he still possessed some instincts of a cat and those instincts told him that this thing was close enough to a rat to be called a rat too.

"Whatever, so I guess I am the new leader here?" he asked smirking.

"Well I think we should stick to the democracy." said Matt uneasily which lead Napoleon to grin, looking extremely pleased with himself.

Matt leaned back silently cursing the know it all cat. That was not fair, why had the cat always the last word?

While Matt thought about the little misfortunate occasions in life a big one was about to reach them. Napoleon and Mr. Huggles realized it first, wincing when the familiar foul smell which penetrated their sensitive noses appeared.

"The walking canalization is near." grimaced Napoleon, shaking his head clearly in the hope that this would be able to safe him from the smell. Matt, as the special stench reached him as well grabbed immediately a, for this case prepared, wet tissue and hold it to his nose.

"You could tell?" asked Matt sarcastically and received a glare from the familiar.  
"We have to go, something must have happened in Meridian. Probably Phobos must have attacked the castle. Let's hit the road boy."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Thank you Sherlock."

Napoleon smirked "I bet you've never read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

At least Matt had the decency to blush while grabbing the mage ring from his desk and stuffing it in his pocket. Napoleon and Huggles as well jumped on his shoulders and he ran to the door.

"Mom I am going to Will, It'll be late." He yelled and stormed out, to the trees next to his house where Blunk was already waiting. He did not want his parents to worry again, like the time Nerissa hat captured him. He wasn't sure he had his parent's full trust back but he hoped he could avoid situations like a kidnapping.

He should work on a way to create an astral drop as well; it might save him from some trouble.

"Funny boy hurry. Danger in castle." exclaimed the excited Passling, gesturing wildly with his hands.

Matt nodded and watched Blunk opening a fold to the castle and the four entered it.

They reappeared in the yard of the castle, which the Lurdens had already partly in control. The young guitarist could see Choji fighting against a ninja and even recognized a beaten body next to him. He hoped this was one of the enemies.

Unfortunately he was unable to continue observing as a Lurden charged at him, threatening to kill him right there. Matt was about to transform but he decided against it. He did have some hand to hand combat skills after all.

The Lurden raised his sword and swung it at Matt, who avoided it by stepping left fast and while in motion grabbing a bucket next to the well. The force of his own strike caused the monster to step forward a bit too far and when Matt hit him hard with the bucket on the head, the Lurden fell down in the well.

Matt hoped this creature knew how to swim.

He picked up the sword of the minion and stormed towards Choji to give him some help, hoping he could distract the creatures long enough for Choji to deal with the ninja.

Napoleon shook his head dismissingly. Why didn't the boy transform? He and his stupid, human pride.

"I hope you won't fight in this form as well?" he asked Huggles wryly. Deciding it was better not to further annoy him Huggles transformed into Khor and Napoleon followed his example.

"It is easy enough rat, tackle everything ugly…"

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Irma was in a delicate position. She confronted her long known enemy, good old snake man Cedric. Apparently the second in command from Phobos hadn't taken it well that she and her friends had imprisoned him again right after he got the powers he longed for.

Well too bad.

The fight they had right now was more of a hide and seeks. Irma tried to hide and Cedric did his best to seek. Normally, after all the experience she got during the year fighting Nerissa and the last battles she and any of the Guardians would probably be able to take on Cedric alone. Unfortunately Cedric got one of the three artifacts Phobos had given out earlier. It was the belt of Yagong, a mystical belt which gave the user the ability to loosen up the molecular structure of his very own body.

Well that was how Taranee explained Cedric's new skill of phasing through her attacks. Luckily it worked only for a few seconds. It was not nearly enough to go to the infinite city or to hide in a solid structure but it was enough to avoid the worst of her attacks.

The Naga's solid and hard skin gave him already enough protection of her attacks but with that it was now nearly impossible for the water Guardian to hurt her.

So she used one of the most ancient martial arts techniques she heard about. The technique known as the Saotome secret technique: Fast break. In the scrolls she had read it was described that the fundament was based on motion, contemplation, and opposition.

Ok the scrolls were the Ranma ½ mangas and the technique was nothing else then running away to think of a better plan, but hey it worked.

Genma Saotome was right by the way, this technique was a lot harder then you would think.

Taranee was the only one who was available in the moment but they had learned early enough that only the hottest attacks of Taranee were able to hurt him. It seemed that Cedric possessed some kind of natural resistance against fire and anything Taranee had to conjure to hurt him would have injured, or killed, the guards and everybody on their side as well.

So she decided to outsmart him somehow. Irma was confident with this; after all it couldn't be that hard to trick him, right? She summoned water around herself and waited for Cedric's next attack, somehow she was sure she wouldn't have to wait long.

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Kakashi and Sasuke were engaged in a fierce battle. Shuriken were flying, kunai were clashing and both tried to overpower the other. Sasuke had realized soon that he still was behind Kakashi in terms of hand to hand combat, so he had to activate the curse seal level one and now, even though they weren't on the same level, it was close enough for him to hold his ground.

Neither of them was using a jutsu, knowing too well that it would be rather meaningless, both of them could avoid most of the jutsu thanks to their most special eyes and the rest took either too long to perform or required the victim not to move, so they decided to conserve the chakra and tried to wear the other one down, hoping to get the opportunity to use a jutsu soon enough to end the battle.

The Uchiha pulled out his sword of Kusanagi and smirked, knowing that Kakashi recognized the weapon and hoped that he was impressed or at least intimated. To his great disappointment Kakashi only raised an eyebrow.

"Do you really know how to use this?" asked Kakashi doubtfully.

Sasuke got angry. "You will find out." He spat and charged. He swung the sword with all his might, hoping to hit him but Kakashi was too fast. He didn't even stroke back until they reached the wall where Kakashi jumped against it, flew over Sasuke and managed to hit him on the back of his head.

"It is just as I thought." exclaimed the copy ninja. "It is a pity for the sword of Kusanagi. All you can do is wave it with all your strength. It's the same whether it's a famous sword or a log. You don't know how to use it. Take the advice of your old teacher and put it away before you injure yourself."

If Sasuke was angry before, he was furious now. He had given up everything precious to him just to gain enough power to finally kill his brother, who had killed their whole family and now someone, on the top of that his old teacher, was mocking, and underestimating him.

"DON'T TREAT ME LIKE A CHILD" roared Sasuke and stormed at Kakashi, everything about intelligent attacks forgotten. He started to punch, kick and slash furiously, wanting to kill that man with his own hands.

Kakashi wasn't one of the best ninja's for nothing. He skilfully avoided the attacks and yet managed not to give any opening. After a few seconds ducked under a specific slash, pulled out a kunai and slammed it right against Sasuke forehead. He had used the end of the kunai; after all he didn't want to kill him, rather take him back.

"My, he still got that nasty temper of his." He said, looking at the fallen Sasuke. Kakashi didn't felt good with this victory. He didn't even saw this as a victory. Sasuke was not what he had expected. Instead of a dangerous and fearsome ninja, in front of him was a boy with a powerful body of a man and the mental level of a child.

All the progress he made in terms of combat, he seemed to have stepped back in his mind. Sasuke, his former prized student, was mentally degenerated and instable. The smallest taunt transformed him into a raving lunatic, who tried to kill everything in sight.

If Sasuke would have had this body and his spirit he had back then before the chunin exams he would have surely proven a much greater match then now.

The mental trauma with the loss of his family, then the shock that the murderer was his own brother and after going through those horrible memories twice with the Mangekyo (Kaleidoscope) Sharingan, receiving the cursed seal and going through Orochimaru training seemed to much for the young boys mind to handle and to save himself from going insane it slowly shut down.

If it had been anyone less skilled then him, that person would have died for sure. Kakashi sighted, whatever Orochimaru was doing to this kid, he hoped it could be reversed.

He picked him up and just when he reached for his forehead protector to cover his left eye, a few shuriken flew at him. He jumped and avoided them and gazed at the point where they had come from.

"You!"

Kabuto was standing there, smiling as always, and winked.

"Long time no see Kakashi-san." He greeted the copy ninja as if they were old friends.

"Not as long as I hoped" growled Kakashi. "So it was you who spied on us in Elyon's castle."

"As sharp as ever." He acknowledged. "But I know that you knew."

"Are you going to save Sasuke?" asked Kakashi, readying himself for another battle.

"No, you are trying to save him. I will make sure he stays here. Unfortunately Orochimaru-sama still needs Sasuke-kuns body."

"Then we will fight." Kakashi dropped Sasuke rather careless to the ground and watched the sound nin carefully.

"I am afraid the odds for you are not good, Kakashi-san." said Kabuto, correcting his glasses. "You have lost a fair amount of chakra and I am at my best, but I don't have to tell you that."

Kakashi pulled out a kunai and took his usual stance, watching Kabuto doing the same.

The copy ninja charged and the sound of clashing kunai was overwhelming. Soon enough Kakashi's superiority in terms of hand to hand combat began to show and he managed to slam the sharp weapon in the shoulder of the medic.

To his great surprise he just vanished in smoke. Realizing that this was a shadow clone from the beginning he whirled around to the place where he had dropped Sasuke but that place was empty.

Kakashi cursed his foolishness; he was tricked like a five year old. He covered his Sharingan and continued to attack the forces of Phobos and Orochimaru.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile Shino and Hinata were standing back on back, defending themselves against three sound ninjas. Things didn't go well for them; they were on the losing side. The enemy's whole forces were concentrated on this castle while Elyon's troops, even though they were far more, were spread over the whole planet. So the castle didn't have the necessary defence which was required to withstand an attack like this.

Had they arrived a few days earlier, Shino was sure; Shikamaru would have created a defence which would have made this castle impenetrable

Well, no sense in crying about not changeable facts, so he concentrated again on the current fight.

"There is no other option." He said quietly to Hinata. "We have to retreat."

The timid girl's lavender coloured eyes widened but she nodded nonetheless.

The bugs started crawling out of Shino's skin, giving them a short opening to strike. No matter how often you see it, as long you are not an Aburame yourself, the view of insects crawling out of a human body does cause to shock you. No description can prepare you for that.

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Choji and Matt were now having problems in their own right. The chubby Akimichi was almost out of chakra at the ninja he was confronting let his "friend" do all the work. So he was rather fresh and seemed to enjoy harassing him.

Matt meanwhile was occupying four Lurdens with only a sword and a shield. Caleb would be proud of him. So he continued his assault with ducking striking and avoiding.

Then the ninja he just recognized as the one he had battled in the forest together with Caleb was smirking.

"So you are here too, where s that annoying friend of yours?"

Apparently he wasn't well informed and this guy didn't seem like the type who could use sarcasm.

"You don't really thing I need reinforcements for you, do you?" taunted Matt. He dropped the weapons and glanced at Choji. 

"Go and occupy these loons, buddy. I am going to take care of him" He transformed into Shagon and smirked behind his mask, letting his eyes glow green.

"The hard way." He finished.

Choji nodded. "Good luck." He mobilized the last chakra and calories in his body an activated the meat tank, rolling at the Lurdens like a bowling ball against the pins.

Rotating faster and faster he cut he was able to make a gasp, a small area totally Lurden-less and then collapsed on the ground, panting heavily.

Shikamaru, seeing his best friend in danger, jumped from his current position and picked Choji up. With a giant leap he saved himself and his friend form the club of Frost who wanted to finish at least one of the ninjas. The hunter roared in rage and hit the next guard in reach with his deadly weapon, sending him flying in a giant leap.

Julian, who watched this, was shocked. Frost wasn't that strong before. Sure he possessed a greater strength and stamina than normal humans and non humans but this boost of power was frightening.

Frost, who wasn't called the hunter for nothing, saw the look of shock in the face of the tactician. The pendant, which he hid under his armour wasn't something to take lightly. It was one of the three artefacts Phobos had given them to make this attack a sure success. It increased the strength, speed and stamina of the wearer in such a way that he was now ten times stronger and faster then before.

He ran through the Guards, knocking them out one by one, since he was forced to stop when he saw his new opponent.

It was the loudmouthed, blond Guardian, oh how he would enjoy breaking her bones. He grinned cruelly and lifted his club in a threatening manner.

"Your end is near, Guardian." He spat.

Cornelia didn't respond but rather concentrated ob the club. When Frost swung it, it slipped from his fingers, levitating harmless in the air.

The Earth Guardian smirked and threw it far away. "Let's see how good you are without a weapon, big boy." she taunted.

Frost momentarily stupor finished an the confident, cruel smile appeared once again.  
"You should be careful with your wishes, guardian." He leapt forward, missing her head only for a few centimetres and landing behind her.

"They might become true."

While Cornelia was sometimes struggling to accept some facts of her life, there were times when she reacted incredibly fast and this was one of them. She rose into the air and let vines after vines sprout from the ground, binding the meta-human.

Frost managed to rip them with ease but they continued to come in a never ending manner. Cornelia let all her frustrations about her current situation flow into her plants and as such they started to grow thorns.

Frost screamed in agony when they thrilled into his skin and pierced his armour. With a giant burst of strength he freed himself and jumped as far as he could.

He landed on his trusted rhino Crimson and from there he jumped again. This time it was too late for Cornelia to react and Frost's fist hit her right in the stomach. All air left her lungs and a not known pain spread through her body.

She had no air to scream in pain when she flew against the wall of the castle and dropped to the ground. Had she been in her normal form, she was sure of it, she would have died. Even as a Guardian she couldn't muster the strength to stand up. The pain she felt was overwhelming, but even though they hurt, Cornelia realized now, they were nothing to the pain of her heart she had when she saw Caleb as hurt as he was.

And if she was able to move and fight with that pain she was able to fight with this one too. It was time to teach Frost, who came slowly towards her, cracking his knuckles, a lesson.

Guardian style!

While lying she pressed the palms of her hand to the ground. The earth beneath Frost crumbled and swallowed him, burying him so that only his head looked out.

Cornelia smiled weakly. She knew this wouldn't be able to hold him forever, not with this freakish power boost he apparently gained. But it gave the blond Guardian enough time to recover a bit and to execute her new formed plan. She only hoped it would be enough.

She forced herself to stand up and noticed Ino running towards her. Her mood brightened instantly. Just when she wanted to call her friend, Ino was hit by some kind of web. Miranda who had hid herself in the shadow of a wall was shooting webs like a madman, trapping everybody she could hit.

And this time it was Ino, who cursed her luck. It seemed that Cornelia had to manage the enemy by herself, she would be busy here.

By activating the chakra scalpel she managed to cut the web and charged at the shape shifter, avoiding all web shots skilfully.

Right when she reached Miranda and attempted to strike her with a kunai, her arm was stopped by an invisible wall.

It was rather painful, like hitting steel with bare hands. Apparently the spider woman was protected by an invisible force field. If this was a natural ability or a technique, Ino didn't particularly care. She only hoped she would be able to penetrate it enough to attack her.

After a few minutes trying Ino was most impressed. As the blond ninja could tell, that was some really impressing shield. Not only did it withstand all the attacks of her, may it Gen-jutsu, Tai-jutsu or Nin-jutsu but it let Miranda shoot web through it without lowing it down.

Once the Ino-Shika -Cho trio had encountered a similar opponent. He too possessed an ability which enabled him to have a force field protecting him but he had to deactivate it every time he wanted to attack.

This time she wasn't as lucky. So how could she beat an opponent who had an impregnable shield and used range attacks? Now that she thought about it; that sure resembled Gaara having an absolute defence and attack at the same time. No wonder he was one of the top Shinobi.

Unluckily he wasn't not here neither could a team mate help, so she had to do it all by herself. She only hoped she could do it…

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Phobos was sixty meters away from the castle, standing in the middle of a huge circle with the radius of ten meters. His eyes, mouth and hands were radiating in a strange purple colour and he was floating a few centimetres over the centre.

The dark prince was chanting ancient formula in a long forgotten language and with every word that left his lips, a new geometrical figure appeared inside the circle, until five minutes later, the whole circle was completely covered.

Then his voice became louder. "BAKEROEN TOS!" he yelled.

The whole ground began to glow and a pitch black golem of ten meters height rose from the ground, slowly engulfing in purple flames. While Phobos smiled the golem lift to his full size and roared.

It was a terrific roar, a roar which could be heard in nearly whole Meridian.

It had a different meaning for everybody who was able to perceive it. For the Lurdens and sound ninjas it meant reinforcements, for Kabuto and Orochimaru it meant victory.

For the citizens and Guards it meant fear and despair, for the Guardians and ninjas it meant defeat.

But for Phobos it was the sweet sound of revenge.


	6. The Retreat

Hey guys, thank you for all the reviews, anyways let's just get started with the next chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could

anyways.

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Julian reacted immediately after hearing the roar. He didn't know which abomination Phobos had called but he was completely sure, that it would cause havoc and destruction. More then they could handle at the moment.

After looking at Shikamaru's face he knew that the kid thought exactly the same thing. Julian was impressed by this kid. Until now he didn't know that a kid of that age could have a brilliant strategic mind like that. Of course he himself and Caleb were experienced strategists but they had years of war on struggling on their shoulders.

This kid was, after his own explanations, one of many soldiers of a giant military force. With the same experience this kid would suppress him, but even now Julian could trust in his judgement completely. With Caleb out cold for some time, perhaps even forever this boy was the best choice in leading the troops.

"We have to retreat immediately." spoke Julian firmly, the grip on his sword becoming tighter.

Shikamaru nodded.

"Yes, I don't have the slightest idea what he summoned there but it will surely finish us." The young Nara pulled out a scroll and opened it. Strange and foreign symbols covered the scroll, so that Julian could not read anything at all but it was rather self explaining in the next seconds.

White smoke came out and revealed a little bomb, not bigger then an egg.  
"This" explained Shikamaru "will detonate twenty seconds after merging a bit chakra in it. The explosion will be rather big, strong enough to blast a good part of this castle into pieces.

Well with all the magic here around and Phobos out there it won't happen but it will give us enough time to escape, even though I don't know where we could go."

"We already have an emergency plan for situations like this. We had an experience similar to this not a year ago. The Guardians will open a fold to earth and from there we will hide in the infinite city."

"The infinite city?" asked Shikamaru. "Is this only a name or…"

"No." interrupted Julian, looking worried at Drake and Aldarn who were battling three Lurdens. "It is really an infinite city. Nobody knows who had built it but in 1000 years nobody could find an end. We suspect it spreads through the whole planet but one thing is clear. Unless it is a great coincidence they won't find us there."

Shikamaru smiled weakly. "Well, it sounds like a plan." He pulled out a kunai with an attached explosive note and hurled it in the midst of a group of Lurdens sneaking up on Shino and Hinata. The small explosion was more then enough for those and now both Shinobi were warned and nodded thankfully at him.

"Then let's begin. Please take care of Choji. " said Shikamaru and leaped forward and landed next to Ino who was currently encountering Miranda.

He formed the rat seal and his signature jutsu, the Shadow Imitation Technique came into effect. His shadow grew longer until it reached Miranda.

The shield, protecting her von attacks didn't hold her shadow back so Shikamaru's technique was able to affect her.

"Wha…what did you do to my body?" the shape shifter yelled. Shikamaru didn't answered but made the motion of… yeah what exactly. He didn't know what gave her this shield. So the only thing remaining was to break her neck. He turned to Ino.

"Go and alarm the others." He spoke in Japanese. "We are retreating." She nodded and quickly made the signs of the body flicker technique, vanishing in a small white cloud.

Shikamaru turned again towards Miranda and made the necessary signs for the Shadow Neck Hold Technique (1). A small dark hand came out of the shadow on the ground and slowly crawled over Miranda's body until it reached her neck.

Firmly gripping it he slowly started to strangulate her but then was hit by a green blur. Shikamaru flew hardly against a castle wall and could hardly muster the strength to stand up. The hit he just received felt like the strike of an enraged elephant and he was almost sure that his left arm was broken.

When he finally managed to glance at what just hit him, he saw Cedric, hissing dangerously at him. Apparently he wasn't pleased that he was nearly killing Miranda.

Irma who had been busy with Cedric landed next to him.

"Are you alright buddy?" she asked, looking at him apologetically.

"Peachy." muttered the lazy genius while looking at the new situation.

Irma grinned at returned her concentration on the shape-shifters. Miranda hat already recovered from the attack and now both were ready to strike, two of the most powerful shape-shifters of Meridian with the power of the magical artefacts against one injured ninja and an inexperienced Guardian.

This was one of the moments Shikamaru wished himself being at home at watching clouds instead of risking his neck for unknown reasons and for strangers.

"Well this sure is troublesome." he turned to Irma who had closed her eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked the young woman.

She didn't replied, but the answer came in form of a huge wave of water, erupting from several barrels, the water increasing with every second. When it hit them, it was like a small river had appeared in the middle of the castle, washing nearly everything away.

Unfortunately it included some of their own soldiers and many injured ones, may it Lurden, Ninja or Guards. Apparently Irma didn't realized this and Shikamaru wasn't too keen to say this to her, so he didn't mentioned it.

This was war after all; sacrifices and losses were a cost to pay no matter what you did.

Julian who had barely managed to get Choji into safety was nearly splashed away but managed to keep hold of a stair, not noticing a small blue pendant escaping his pocket.

"WILL" yelled Taranee, landing next to Cornelia and occupying Frost for a few seconds. "BRING US OUT OF HERE!"

"Hang on; I am not very good at this." She yelled back and grabbed the heart harder. With a flash of pink the Guardians, Ninjas and Guards vanished, only to reappear in the throne room.

Will collapsed, totally exhausted, and was hold by Matt, still in Shagon form.

"So, what now?" he asked freely in the room, looking at the bruised and injured people.

"Your smelly little friend will open a fold to earth." replied Neji, tightening the bandage over his left arm. "So take the Queen and that Caleb guy and escape. Shino, the air Guardian and I will hold them off for a few minutes, so that you can escape safely."

Kakashi nodded, cursing the fact that he could not help them. He had used the Sharingan in the last two days too often and was now having serious chakra troubles, or what would be more correct, the lack of it.

Irma, who was pale and white in the face, seemed to have realized by now what her actions earlier had cost them. Of course, seeing the injured people all wet, obviously enduring a high amount of pain. Guilt was written all over her as she raised her hand.

"I want to stay too." She spoke firmly. "It is my duty to make up my mistake."

Not many of the people understood what she said but Shikamaru only shook his head. "You leave with us. In your current state of mind you will be only a nuisance. The others don't need someone with your attitude right now."

Irma didn't respond but the few tears leaking from her eyes were speaking volumes. Cornelia went to her and put an arm around Irma, comforting her like a friend.

Even though they argued regularly and had more then one disagreement, it could have not been any clearer that they were the best of friends.

Irma looked seriously shocked, having an empathic look and red eyes while Cornelia patted her shoulder, calming her down. An uncomfortable silence came over the room when Kakashi finally spoke again.

"Well let's leave."

"Moment" interrupted Taranee. "How are you guys supposed to leave?"

"Shino knows a really useful jutsu which might come handy in here." replied Neji nodding gratefully at Ino who had just healed his injured arm.

Blunk had opened a fold to the same cave they escaped last time and the first ones started to walk through

The two Shinobi and Hay Lin left the room hurriedly, just to stand in the passage which leads to the throne room. Only a few moments later the hordes of Phobos arrived, with Cedric standing in the front, this time in his human form.

"Do you three really think you can stop all of us?" Cedric spat, eying them carefully.

Neiji stepped forward and took his normal Gentle Fist stance. "You are facing the best the Hyuuga has to offer. I wouldn't speak like that."

Cedric hold out his hand, signalling, that he wanted to face this opponent alone.

"Well, let's see how you ninjas can hold yourself against a fighter of my calibre." smirked Cedric confidently.

He stepped towards Neji and looked him right in the eyes but then shuddered. The eyes of this man were far more then normal eyes. Cedric felt him stare through him and the veins on his temples were a scarring sight.

"Even now I can see that I outclass you." spoke Neji ominously. "Those eyes of mine see things you only can dream about."

With a speed Neji didn't believe that a non ninja could reach, Cedric stormed forward and hurled his fist at him. Neji avoided it but to his shock the human fist transformed in the middle of the strike to a green claw and then back to a human hand.

"You know, if a shape sifter is experienced enough he can manage partial transformations and I am the most experienced shape shifter you will ever meet. It was faith that you crossed my path ninja and your life shall end here."

Neji observed through the wall that the last ones were ready to leave but they still needed a bit more time.

"Faith is unknown to the likes of you. Only the ones with eyes like mine can see the future. I saw the future." He spoke firmly. "And it does not include you."

The last part angered Cedric and he charged again. With only his arms transformed he could reach a speed which rivalled Neji and were as much devastating. Wile the Hyuuga's strikes injured the internal organs, he was more then sure that one hit of those claws would tear him apart.

So, the one who managed to land the first hit was the winner. The prodigy of the Hyuuga clan was nearly out of chakra but he still decided to use the last part to create an opening.

He let his guard drop on the left, a spot which was tempting for Cedric to strike. The Naga didn't think twice when he saw the opening and leased a strike.

But his hand only hit a solid invisible energy wall.

To his great surprise Neji started to spin around, emitting energy and creating an orb of chakra, blocking Cedric's attack and pushing him away.

When the energy finally hit him, Cedric was hurled in the air. Neji stopped to spin around immediately and started his fatal attack.

Just when he was about to land a palm strike of chakra a kunai flew towards him and he had to block it.

When he looked at the thrower he was shocked to see Kabuto Yakushi, an opponent he probably couldn't beat when he was at one hundred per cent. Now when he was low on chakra and outnumbered he knew he didn't stand a chance.

"It's good to see you again, Neji-san." spoke Kabuto politely. "I see so rarely old friends from the chunin exam back then. You can't count Sasuke-kun as he doesn't speak much."

His smile grew when Neji didn't respond but slowly stepped back. "Oh, I remember you were one of the silent ones too. I believe your good friend Rock Lee was the talkative of your group."

Slowly Kabuto started to walk towards the three, his glasses mirroring the light, so disabling them to see his eyes.

"Well we have so much to discuss, haven't we? I am sure you just carve to know what happened to Orochimaru-sama and Sasuke-kun during the last two years and you can be sure that I have a great interest in your current abilities as well."

His one hand pointed at Cedric who was struggling to stand up again. His Naga form wouldn't have been bothered by the Heavenly Spin but his human form was not nearly as tough.

"To defeat a shape shifter of that level so easily you sure have improved. They called you the prodigy of Hyuuga, do they still? What happened to your lovely cousin Hinata-sama, I am sure I saw her during the fight."

The young Jonin was starting to become angry. "Don't take Hinata-sama's name into your mouth." He spoke firmly but Kabuto was pleased to detect the suppressed anger in it.

"Did you know that I healed her back then?" Kabuto asked casually, apparently Neji didn't know and Shino looked surprised as well.

Hay Lin was more then confused but didn't dare to speak.

"Oh so you didn't know, but don't be mad, she didn't know either. You should be more thankful, I am sure she would have died without me, having so terrible internal bleedings. How did she get them again?" He was acting very well the part of someone who was furiously thinking about something but not one of the three decoys believed that he didn't know.

"Oh it was you, now I remember. It is such a terrible act to attack your younger and much weaker cousin like that. I was told that several Jonin had to step in so that you couldn't kill her."

Hay Lin had heard enough, she didn't quite understand what they were talking about but it was sure affecting both ninja in an unpleasant way. So it was her duty to finish it on the spot.

Collecting a huge amount of mystical and natural energy in her hands she released a powerful wind attack. It was strong enough to damage the corridor they were currently staying in but that didn't matter to her right now

Shino started to make a few hand seals and he saved Hay Lin from an attack Kabuto's who had managed to avoid being hit by the strong wind blast.

Apparently, and luckily, he was the only one.

"So you are the Air Guardian I have heard about. They say you are the weakest Guardian in existence and yet I have to disagree after seeing this attack."

Hay Lin was quite surprised to hear her enemy compliment her, so it was clearly shown in her face.

"You don't hear that often, do you? Well, it is true, you are quite strong. Unfortunately you are a serious nuisance right now and even though I hate it, you really force me to do this; I have to cripple you."

Seeing the shocked expression on her face he laughed. "Don't worry, I will heal you after the fight, we wouldn't want you to die now, would we? But that way you would be out of my way."

Kabuto continued talking and pulled out a funny shaped kunai. "So, I will make this as painless as possible and don't fear, it won't be permanent."

He slashed out but the attack was blocked by a dome of insects which just build around Hay Lin.

Shino appeared inside of it and grabbed Hay Lin's hand. "Fast! We have to get out of here."

"How?" asked Hay Lin, looking at Neji who, in a desperate attempt, had just started to attack Kabuto.

The troops started to come back, so that didn't leave much time, they had to get away..

Suddenly the whole room exploded. Well it was what Shino had been thinking in the first moment but after the smoke had cleared the Golem, a terrible sight to behold, had appeared in the hall.

Shino had never seen something so impressive, the gigantic Golem with his burning flames seemed like something from another world. Right now, for the first time, he felt how the bugs felt when they encountered an enemy who was much bigger then one himself.

This thought reassured him, helping him to remain his calm attitude. His bugs were a good example and a solution to this problem. One bug may not have a chance against such an enemy but once you have enough bugs who work together in a team, every opponent, no matter how big or strong they are, was bound to fall.

Still, that meant he had to leave now, as they were not ready to face that abomination yet gathering information and reinforcements was an important part of being a Shinobi. Flight was no shame anymore.

So he simply let a great swarm of insects fly towards the Golem, hoping they would distract him long enough.

He started to make the necessary hand signs and vanished together with Hay Lin in a small cloud of leafs.

Neji took the easy way out and jumped out of the window, knowing that only the ninja, in the worst case Kabuto, would be able to follow him.

Landing hardly on the ground he started to run towards to the main gate with a speed a normal human could not hope to match. He was lucky not to have received any damage to his legs or his escape would have ended just there. Right before he jumped over the wall to freedom a blur appeared in front of him and Kabuto, together with two sound ninja appeared.

"That sure was a poor attempt to escape, won't you agree?"

"Damn" muttered Neji, seeing his last hope of escape being destroyed. He hoped that Shino and Hay Lin could escape but every second Kabuto had to put up with him he wouldn't have to track the other two.

It was his duty as a Shinobi of Konoha and a friend to stall as long as he could.

Forcing the last bit of chakra into his eyes he activated his Byakugan and started to analyse his current situation. Neither was he able to use his techniques nor his Gentle fist style, having no chakra left, so he would have to stick to normal hand to hand combat, something he exceeded at.

Still, it wouldn't be enough to beat two sound Shinobi and Kabuto but it sure would give the others the time they needed to escape.

"Bring it on!" he demanded. "Your fate will be settled here."

Kabuto looked stared amused at him and shook his head.

"I'll deal with him." Said the medical ninja and stepped forward, shrugging. "You two make sure we won't be interrupted. If something happens I'll be most unpleased."

Without any further talking Kabuto leapt into an attack, trying a kick right at Neji's head, only to hit the air. Neji had ducked under the kick and hurled his palm right at Kabuto's stomach, after years of training with Lee even a non chakra charged palm strike would hurt if it was executed with enough physical power.

Unfortunately Kabuto managed to block this strike with his right knee and started the counterattack immediately. Both of his hands blurred at Neji's head and the young Hyuuga had to jump a few meters back to avoid being hit, he regained his stance and looked Kabuto who was smiling smugly.

The silver haired young man hurled a few shuriken at Neji, who avoided them effortlessly by stepping to the side. To his great regret he had to deactivate his Byakugan to conserve the last bit of chakra he had and charged forward in hope to find an opening.

Kabuto dodged the first strike by leaning to the left, stopped the second with his right arm and managed to hit Neji with his left in the side. Pain, a terrible sting, similar to an injury from a Juken hit, spread from the place he had just been punched.

He knew this kind of pain, having been hit enough from Hiashi-sama in the training sessions, the style the medic nin was using was resembled far too much the gentle fist.

"How do you know this style?" gritted Neji through his teeth, glaring at the smiling Kabuto, who only rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Hyuuga style Tai-jutsu isn't that special. For a Shinobi who is specialized in medical jutsu and is used to control his chakra perfectly, it is an easy feat to learn."

"We will see how much you really learned."

"Quite sure of your self you are." said Kabuto. "But I have to admit that my vaguely learned style may be inferior to yours." He shrugged helplessly "Well that's not that bad, but let us continue. I am most sure you have stalled enough time for your friends to escape."

Suddenly he appeared behind Neji, who hadn't caught his fast movements.

"You can die without regret."

Kabuto's blue gleaming hand shot to Neji's neck in an attempt to cut it with his chakra scalpel but the blow was intercepted by an invisible wall of wind. Around Neiji a small tornado started to form and it whirled so fast that Kabuto was disabled to see through it.

The force of the tornado pushed Kabuto back and before he could react it lifted from the ground, disappearing in the sky, alongside with Neji.

"That girl had more guts than I thought." muttered Kabuto, looking after the tornado in the horizon. Suddenly a smile formed on his lips.

"I bet he is going to throw up after this, well, serves him right."

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Hay Lin steered the small tornado with great concentration to the same spot where she left Shino, she sure was lucky that her plan went that well. It had been a bit unfortunate that she hadn't caught Neji right in the middle but instead in the whirl but she still managed to rescue him.

To her defence you can say that she had to aim from a very far distance. Even though she could turn invisible, she had learned fast that invisibility didn't worked that well on ninjas as they seemed to posses a sixth sense for intruders.

So, after a few seconds of carefree flight, she had spotted Shino and finally released Neji from the winds, hoping he was alright.

Seeing that Neiji's face had a greenish colour it showed clearly that this wasn't the case and before either of them could say anything Neji's stomach revolted.

After vomiting in the nearest bush he turned to HA Lin and nodded.

"Thank you for the rescue, Guardian-sama." He said with a shaking voice.

"No problem, sorry about the whole, well puking incident." apologized the Air Guardian.

If Ten-Ten, Lee, Gai-Sensei or in the worst case Naruto or Ino would get hold of this, that he, Hyuuga Neji, had vomited right after being rescued by a girl he knew he would never hear the end of it.

He used the Heavenly Spin on a nearly regular basis but his early attempts to learn that technique had turned out with similar results, but due the fact that the Heavenly spin only took a few seconds he had to whirl for a few minutes now and it was naturally for his body to react in that way.

Still it made him feel uncomfortable to show such a weakness.

"It was the only way." Assured Neji her but his face became harder. "But if any of you two tell anyone about this there will be hell to pay."

Hay Lin grinned and she could have sworn that this Shino guy had smiled too.

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Kakashi was inspecting the place they had chosen as their new hideout with great interest. The infinite city they called it and was one of the most impressing places he had witnessed in his life as a Shinobi.

The greenish colour of the pillars and walls gave the place an ominous aura, a presence you could almost feel. At the same time it was disturbing, no matter how hard he checked, even with his Sharingan, everything looked the same way.

He had wandered for ten minutes know and the only thing changing was the fact that the voices of the others became quieter and quieter, with each step he made away from them.

Still, there had to be a pattern, given the fact that some of Rebels could orientate inside this place. Kakashi sighted and started to walk back, gazing at the walls and floors, trying to figure out the secret of the infinite city.

When he arrived at their spot he saw countless people hurrying from one place to another, carrying medical supplies or other items around, trying to help their comrades.

His eye spotted his fellow ninjas easily and with a puff of smoke he appeared next to them.

"Report, Shikamaru." He demanded, coming straight to the point. He knew none of them wanted to waste time so he skipped the formal part.

"Well, we lost several guards but other then that we are quite ok. No major injuries among us, Choji is out for a few hours due to a great chakra loss but he will recover quickly, I have a broken arm but this will heal with the help of Ino and Hinata and the rest is quite well. Only a few little scratches or minor injuries."

Kakashi nodded, looking again at his subordinates. "What about the Queen and the Guardians?"

Shikamaru looked concerned for a moment but answered with his usual, bored tone.

"The Guardians are unharmed, safe the Air Guardian as we don't know her current state, but seeing as she is with Neiji and Shino she is most likely ok. The Queen on the other hand is still unconscious and will most likely remain so for a few days just like this Caleb guy."

"What is you plan, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Ino, trying to fondly parts of Miranda's web out of her hair. "Do we call for reinforcements?"

The silver haired Jonin sighted. "Well we have to; this mission has become far more difficult with the fall of the Palace and the main force of the royal army. Seeing that the enemy has outnumbered and outclassed us we would have no chance."

Hinata looked worried. "B…b... but we haven't received a great loss, only the palace as a building."

"Well you are right with that." agreed Kakashi. "But we are in no good position either. Two of three symbols of hope for the Meridians have been taken out and with them and the moral of the troops gone, we will have a hard time to manage, no matter how good our plans are."

"So we will simply wait for reinforcements?" asked Ino incredulously, being a bit disappointed by the great Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi.

"Not quite." answered Shikamaru in Kakashi's place. "Naturally we have to form information gathering squads."

Matt stepped to them, hands in his pockets, looking quite unhappy.

"What's the plan?" he asked, looking at Kakashi.

"We will form a small group with the task of getting information and send it to the castle. This group will depart tomorrow in the early hours."

"Well, count me in."

Kakashi shook his head. "Sorry boy, but you are way too inexperienced with this. Your powers are also not really suited for this kind of mission."

"What do you mean? I can fly and I can camouflage myself, what else do you need?" protested Matt, being offended to be treated like a child.

Kakashi paused for a minute. "The group will subsist of Ino, Hinata and this speaking cat over there."

"You are sending the cat but not me?" asked Matt, shocked by Kakashi's choice.

Napoleon, who had heard the whole conversation, jumped on Ino's shoulder and grinned at Matt.

"Save your breath boy, you will need it later."

Matt sighted and dropped to the ground and the others were snickering at his misfortune.

"I so hate my life."

"I know what you mean, it's such a drag." agreed Shikamaru. _At least I am not a part in this reconnaissance mission._

Will and the other three girls joined them, sitting down and looking into the crowd.

"So, what do we do about Hay Lin and the other two?" asked Taranee.

"Well we wait for them to show up, Hay Lin will lead them to this place." answered Ino confidently.

She didn't miss the girls exchanging worried glances. "What?"

"Ahem, you guys do know that Hay Lin has no idea how to get here, do you? I mean how should she know, even we didn't know where we would be going." said Will uneasily.

Kakashi looked like Will had just declared her undying love to Pakkun, his faithful and loudmouthed dog.

"But she was a part of the Rebellion; sure the Guardians as Leaders would know about the whereabouts of your hiding places."

"Well we really weren't part of the Rebellion we were more like their reinforcements. We had to go back to Earth and couldn't get to know all hideouts."

"So you are saying we have a tired and injured three man cell out there in the unknown territory of the enemy?"

"Well it's not that bad, Hay Lin knows a lot about Meridian and they sure can find a way in the infinite city. They only don't know our exact location." assured Cornelia them.

"She's right." agreed Shikamaru. "With Neji's Byakugan and Shino's bugs they will find us fast."

"Don't forget Hay Lin's extreme sense of hearing." added Will confidently.

"Still I won't take any chances." said Kakashi and bit his thumb. The girls and Matt watched him curiously, doing some hand seals and then pressing his palms to the ground.

"Summoning Technique!" (2) yelled Kakashi and around his palms black letters and symbols appeared only to vanish in a puff of smoke. In the same place where the letters and the circle were, now it was filled with eight dogs, in all sizes and types. All of them were wearing forehead protectors and blue clothing. Some of them had even sunglasses, and the giant bulldog was wearing a spiked collar.

"Hey Kakashi." greeted the smallest dog who was a pug and was sitting on the head of the bulldog. "What's the matter?"

"Pakkun, you and the others leave immediately to track down Hyuuga Neji, Aburame Shin and their companion and lead them to this position."

"So basically search for the chatty chums and drag them back here, roger." He looked down to the other dogs. "Well, let's go."

To the great surprise of the others the dogs disappeared so fast, their eyes couldn't follow them.

"So they will find them, in the meanwhile I am going to sleep a bit, I need to recover chakra. Wake me when something is up."

So everybody sat down in silence, no words were spoken and no words were needed. Every single one of them was in his/her own thoughts of the new situation they found themselves in.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

1 _Kage Kubi Shibaru no Jutsu_ Shadow neck hold technique). - A shadow hand comes out and breaks the next of the victim. The closer the user is to his opponent the more effective the technique is.

2 _Kuichiyose no Jutsu_ (Summoning technique) – user needs to use his blood as a medium to call an animal you have a contact with.

A/N

Well I'm sorry that this chapter is shorter then the other ones but I was rather busy the last days. I will be on vacation for the next five weeks so do not expect any updates for some time but I will make it up as soon as I get back. I will rewrite this chapter, I don't really think it is any good, and the new ones will follow soon.

Well have a good time.


	7. The Gathering

I wanted to thank ADD Chcolatebunny, Alexis kiah, Kathryn Rogers, Sabaku no Yumi, Nejifanatic 101, silence do good, Guardian's Light, The Crazy Talk Kid, lidiladilom, Sasha and all the others for their reviews, support and suggestions, thanks to you, I continue writing this.

And to answer a few questions:

Nejifanatic 101: You are absolute right, it really is Neji, the funny thing is, before I included Neji in this story I checked his name, cause I wasn't sure myself and I could swear it was Neiji, but you are right it's is Neji. I am going to rewrite a few chapters, so I will correct this mistake.

Sabaku no Yumi: Great to have you back, and I try, I really try, but be sure it will be better with chapter 8, Guardian's Light was kind enough to help me a bit in the future in that matter, (thank you again), and yes, there will be a lot of more ninja's in the future.

Alexis kiah: you will detect a hint in this chapter that they will meet Tsunade very soon and thank you vacation was a bit too long but great.

ADD Chcolatebunny and Kathryn Rogers: Naruto and Sakura will turn up and take a place in this story, but I cannot promise any romantic pairings, since a) I am not good at that stuff and b) I am not really comfortable having Sasuke and Sakura becoming an item, perhaps you will meet a surprise, in the future.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could

So here is chapter seven, enjoy.

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"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame."

- Benjamin Franklin

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Ino was having a bad day, together with Hinata and Napoleon she had tried to infiltrate the Castle and had failed, truly, miserably failed.

The reasons for this Malheur were rather funny, at least from the view of the observers. 

True, at first it seemed rather easy, get into the gigantic castle, avoid being seen and try to find out as many information as you can.

Well, having the Byakugan of Hinata, the sense of smell and hearing of Napoleon as well his knowledge and abilities of magic at her side, seemed to make this job rather easy.

Unfortunately, fate decided that this would have been too smoothly, at least that was her opinion, so the room they used to enter the palace turned out to be a giant, indoor garden with lots of strange plants.

Naturally, the young Yamanaka had a great interest in flowers, as well in other plants, seeing that her family owned a flower shop, so when she heard from Hinata that there was an indoor garden she decided to go there.

Neither Hinata, nor Napoleon had the nerve (or the guts for that matter) to argue her on that.

What they didn't know, was the fact that those strange flowers, the dark coloured roses, were the infamous and feared Murmerers, the eyes and ears of Phobos in Meridian.

So when they entered the garden, Ino leaned forward to smell at the flowers, little Humanoid like persons grew out of the roses and started to whisper (hence their name) frantically "Intruders! Intruders in the third garden!"

The main problem was the fact that every second more plants activated themselves, and informed the castle in mere seconds.

So as fast as they got in, they got out and escaped in a very unprofessional way; cursing like sailors who spend the better part of their last twenty years on the worst pirate ships.

Hinata's blush didn't fade away for the whole trip, letting her wonder, alongside with Napoleon, where the hell a girl like Ino could have picked up those words.

Even the regent of earth, endowed with the knowledge of the earth's magical past and a good deal of experience of the cursing of several centuries didn't know a good amount of them.

"Easy there doll, no need to use words like that, there will be plenty of opportunities like tonight."

"I know, I know but then again, according to the Guardians, Phobos is most likely going to transform the palace to a darker form. So it will be changed and we lose the advantage of partly knowing the territory."

She paused for a moment to look back to confirm that they were not followed by anyone before turning back to Napoleon who was currently sitting at Hinata's shoulder.

"Tell me again, why didn't you warn us? There is no way he developed those things right after taking over the palace, which was, mind you, five hours ago. You are supposed to know that stuff."

"My information is only over the earth magic. On the top of that my personality awaked after the first war with Phobos" The talking cat growled.

"W...we have reached the entrance Ino." spoke Hinata, observing the territory for a last time to look after unwanted guests.

She deactivated her Byakugan and nodded. "A...also is everything clear, nobody in sight."

"Thank you Hinata" Ino slammed her fist six times against a certain rock and the entrance of a tunnel opened next to the rock.

"So dolls, who wants to tell Kakashi that the mission failed because of flowers?" asked Napoleon, while disappearing in the dark hole, alongside the groaning girls...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasuke didn't react during the alarm as he sat at the ground of the main place; the very same point Irma had flooded with the surprising water attack. He was waked by Kabuto, four hours ago, and since then he didn't moved, only stared at a certain object on the ground.

He couldn't understand this, were all the sacrifices he made in vain? Did he train like crazy for nothing at all?

He cut the bonds with his home and friends to gain power, but did it paid off?

He was defeated by Phobos, was seriously injured in the fight against Shino and Neiji and was soundly defeated by Kakashi, like the time he tried to get those stupid bells.

Sure, Kakashi had to be a little more serious but the result was pretty much the same.

He trained, gave up everything, was willing to give his body, the body of the last Uchiha, after he killed his brother, the very last Sharingan eyes away and yet it seemed not enough.

What did he have to do? What could he do?

He stared at the blue pendant at the ground; ironically it resembled the Uchiha clan in a cruel way. Once beautiful and complete, the proud, sole jewel at the neck of Konoha. Now lying shattered on the muddy ground, forgotten by everyone and left behind as a useless piece of baggage.

No, he couldn't let it end like that, there had to be something, a way to gain more power.

Orochimaru, he had realized, couldn't give him the power he needed. His former friends were weaker then him but that had always been the case, so the best that happened was them all making the same progress over the years.

Phobos, it was true that the Prince was powerful but he didn't seem like the type who willingly shared his power and he himself didn't know how to take it. Time would tell him how to do it.

Konoha? No, he wouldn't crawl back to them, just to do D rank missions for the rest of his life, if he would be allowed to continue his life of a ninja that is. He knew exactly what happened to caught traitors and missing nin…, if they survived the capture.

On his own? What could he do, run around the woods and beat up animals? No, he had to stick to Orochimaru for the time being and wait; this was the way a real ninja would act.

His glance was still fixed at the small pendant and he decided to pick it up. After holding it in his hands he could see his face mirroring in the small jewel. It was a handsome face, dark hair which fell into his face in a Léger way, dark eyes and a dark look, a never ending scowl.

He knew that he was good looking, countless girls had said this, but since his early childhood he didn't care. What use were his looks? They didn't helped him in the countless fights, nor did they saved his family. Instead he hated his face, as he looked too much like his brother. The only thing it gave him was a few years of annoyance, by some girls he disliked.

Every time he looked in a mirror, or another mirroring substance, he saw the person he hated most, Itachi Uchiha and this time was no exception. Instead himself, his older brother appeared, mocking him, threatening him, blaming him

_Why are you so weak?_

And like every time a huge amount of hatred and rage flooded through him, his grip tightening, cracking the pendant. Not being able to stand looking at his face anymore Sasuke hurled the jewel to the ground, shattering it into thousands of pieces.

Just like the Uchiha clan, thought Sasuke bitterly, punching the wall with all his might, causing a small crack in the stone. Just when he wanted to leave, he saw an old woman, with a metal hand and a wooden crane in front of him, smiling assuringly.

"You seem troubled dear heart." he heard her strangely appealing voice.

"Who are you?" hissed Sasuke, not bothering to take any stance, while wondering how the hell she sneaked up at him.

"I am the one you always searched for, I am the answer to all your questions." responded Nerissa, Sorceress of Quintessence and criminal to Kandrakar and once a Guardian and Keeper of a Heart.

"I can give you what you want my dear boy." said Nerissa ominously.

"And what would that be?"

Nerissa smiled. "Power of course. The power you have longed for, the power you searched, sought, needed and of course deserved."

Sasuke was dumbstruck; the words of this old bat were effortlessly going right into his heart, making it difficult for him to answer. She was saying exactly the things he wanted to hear and perhaps they were even true.

He hastily activated his Sharingan and was shocked to see that she had a surprisingly small amount of magic running through her body. Compared to the Queen, the Guardians or even Phobos, it appeared awfully small and yet she did posses a certain aura of power.

"What a nice pair of eyes do you have." complimented Nerissa, looking at them interested.

"Your magic is not very high." stated Sasuke. "How can you prove that you can give me that power?"

Nerissa grinned and turned away. "You know that I am not lying but if you need any further proof, you certainly remember a...special... dark haired boy?"

Guessing that she meant this Matt guy, who had fought that idiot Takato, he nodded.

"Well, then you certainly remember the impressive figure, with wings and a golden Mask."

Sasuke could remember him clearly, looking like something which escaped his nightmares. He knew that Phobos had talked about him, saying that he was quite the fighter, but more a nuisance. Apparently the boy and the winged guy were the same person.

"That guy is pretty weak." said Sasuke. "Sure that imbecile Takato could not defeat him, but he is a weakling."

"Yes, but he hasn't got his old powers. I created Shagon and he was the perfect warrior and defeated the five Guardians alone, while fighting them all at the same time. Unfortunately that boy didn't want the power."

She paused for a moment. "I made a normal boy stronger than a Guardian of Kandrakar, than all Guardians combined; think how powerful I can make you."

Sasuke was trembling, his whole body was shaking, but not of fear. It was excitement he was feeling, he knew she was telling the truth, he could see it in her eyes.

"H...how." asked Sasuke hoarsely.

"You have to say you want it, my dear heart. It is all up to you."

"I ... I want power, I want the power to avenge my clan, the power to defeat my brother."

"Yes" gloated Nerissa and Sasuke realized at this moment the terrible mistake he had made, but it was too late.

Sparks were erupting from her staff, hitting Sasuke, making his eyes appear duller.

"The desire to gain power at all costs, no matter how. A longing for power, so strong you would even betray your friends, the obsession with the revenge for your murdered clan, is the chink to the armor of your soul and all I need to make you mine."

With mad laughing she used the last bit of her power she had from the broken pendant to teletransport her new minion and herself out of the castle.

Uchiha Sasuke was now completely under Nerissa's control and history seemed to repeat himself.

Kabuto, who had seen that Sasuke had been hit by lightning, used a fast body flicker technique, only to arrive to see both of them vanishing with a green light.

"Orochimaru-sama won't be happy to hear this..."

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Meanwhile Neji, Shino and Hay Lin had been wandering around in the Infinite City for hours, without finding a trace from the others. This would have been a lot easier if Neji would have been able to use his Byakugan, but the major chakra exhaustion in the last days had left hit with a bit more chakra over critical condition.

Shino's remaining bugs, being heavily reduced after the attack at the flaming Golem, were still searching and Hay Lin had only heard distinct noises far away, but for all they know, it could be rats.

Still, this was the best direction they got, so they stuck for it, walking slowly towards that point.

"That's it." exclaimed Neji suddenly. "I am going to use the Byakugan whether you like it or not. If I pass out you will carry me."

Shino shook his head, knowing that his comrade wasn't thinking rationally. "No, your reach is about three kilometers when you are at your best, if the distance is greater you will use your chakra for nothing."

Hay Lin nodded firmly "I would have heard them if they were that near."

Neji sighted but had to agree with those arguments.

Hay Lin suddenly stopped. "I hear something."

They stopped and both Shinobi pulled out a kunai.

"How many?" asked Shino

"Two, ähh four legged things, I think but they come here with an incredible speed."

"Could it be?" mumbled Neji and two dogs landed in front of them, one of them being Pakkun. 

"Found you" greeted the dog.

"How cute." cooed Hay Lin, hugging Pakkun. "Look, his paws they are real soft and smooth."

The other dog, Shino and Neji exchanged glances but decided not to say anything, being "rewarded" only seconds later as the reaction of Pakkun was even more interesting, or embarrassing.

Kakashi's faithful and loyal dog had tears in his eyes and hugged Hay Lin back.

"Please adopt me!" he cried into her arms.

"Of course." yelled Hay Lin emotionally, having also tears of joy and sadness in her eyes.

"Little Girl!"

"Cute dog"

"LITTLE GIRL!"

"CUTE DOG!"

For a surprised Shino and a shocked/traumatized Neji, a familiar sight appeared behind the hugging, strange duo; waves splashing dramatically against the rocks and the sun going down, having the beautiful colour of a dusk fall.

"This...this is not happening." whispered Neji, fearing for his sanity. Maybe he was only hallucinating this, he had quite the difficult days behind him and lost a huge amount of chakra.

But it seemed Neji was stuck to experience this over and over. Maybe it was the punishment for being so cruel to Lee or attacking Hinata-sama in such a merciless way.

"This seems awfully familiar indeed." confirmed Shino with a raised eyebrow. The Hyuuga admired the bug user for keeping his cool like that.

"Please kill me..."

"Tempting but unfortunately I can't."

"Did you just make a joke?" asked a mentally defeated Neji.

"Nobody would believe it, so don't even think of telling it someone..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sasuke betrayed us to gain more Power?" asked Orochimaru enraged.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama"

"Why am I not surprised?" asked Phobos sarcastically while looking bored at the sound nin, sitting lazily in his throne. Kabuto, even though thinking the same thing, could successfully hide it.

"The woman of your description is most likely the sorceress Nerissa, but she isn't dangerous, for the moment at least." said the Prince, brushing the potentially danger carelessly away.

"What do you mean, your highness?" asked Kabuto.

"Nerissa may be experienced with the use of magic, but the amount she can summon is extremely limited. As long she doesn't get a giant source like a Heart, or something like that she is as dangerous as a dog. Her bark is worse then her bite."

"My liege." interrupted Cedric. "Forgive me, but do not underestimate your enemies again."

"I am not and now be quiet Cedric. Did you send Frost and Miranda to attack the rest of Elyon's troops?"

"We conquered 1/3 of Meridian and the rest shall fall within a week."

"Excellent, and now to your promising student. It is ridiculously clear that the sorceress has bewitched the respect less Brat, something she is specialized with."

"So what is your advise, Phobos-kun?" asked Orochimaru, now calmer at the outside.

"Sooner or later, we will meet her, so we may spare us from an unnecessary search as I don't posses anything to find him." Phobos lied, he wasn't going to tell Orochimaru about a certain artifact anytime soon.

"Then I am going to break her lousy spell, you'll get the boy and I my peace."

Orochimaru wasn't content with this, but didn't want to anger Phobos, so he only nodded, glancing quickly at Kabuto. Like always, he wasn't able to read through him, he was up to something, he was sure of it, but then again, he was pretty sure that he was also loyal to him.

"Come Kabuto." ordered Orochimaru, it was time to get active.

The grey haired Medic followed him outside the throne room, curious what his master could want now.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama?"

"Please prepare the four, I need them at 100 per cent, for the mission I have in mind. You know what I mean."

"Of course."

"And don't trust Phobos, he may be our partner at the moment but you now better then me how easily Alliances can break."

Kabuto nodded again and left Orochimaru alone, hasting to the chamber where the newly founded Sound Four were resting. He had mixed feelings for them, on one side they were stronger then the old ones, of course still weaker then Kimimaru, on the other they didn't got the control over their cursed seal level two form as it should be.

Sasuke, before the cursed seal had affected his mind, Kimimaru and even the old sound four had a greater control in that aspect, having the ability to enter and hold that state for a longer time.

Kabuto was wondering if they could improve with the help of magic, it would be an most interesting case, if magic was able to influence chakra in such a way.

After a few minutes of walking, Kabuto reached the chamber and opened the door, revealing four beds, each one containing a sleeping person. He controlled their pulse and chakra levels and was happy to see that there were no anomalies.

After a short checking, he was sure that they were ready to go and could take on nearly anybody in their way. So he decided it was time to wake them, Orochimaru would be happy indeed.

He walked to table where a small, grey bag was lying, inside it were four injections and he took all of them out, controlling if they were still in good shape, placing them carefully on the table. Content that they were perfect, he took one and walked to the first bed and pulled the sheet away, revealing a young woman with brown hair in a ponytail and wearing a white coat, similar to the ones of a hospital. Unfortunately it didn't have an open backside, as he knew he would pay dearly if she woke up in one of those.

Even though he was stronger then her, he had no interest in a fight, it would be such a shame to damage a body like that. He took her arm and cleaned a spot with a disinfecting cotton peace, readying the needle in his hand and injecting the white substance inside the injection.

Almost instantly the young woman opened her eyes, giving Kabuto the chance to look in her hazelnut brown eyes.

"Good morning, Tomoko-chan, I hope you've rested well."

"Kabuto-kun, has the time finally come?"

"Indeed, you are about to be assigned to your first mission in Meridian, it will be quite the classic mission, for the Sound Four Squad."

Puzzled, she sat upright, swinging her naked legs over the bed. "What do you mean?"

"The same mission eliminated the last Sound Four and was the cause for you lot to take their place."

Her eyes widened in realization. "You mean..."

"Why yes, retrieving Sasuke-kun."

"Sasuke-sama returned to the Leaf weaklings?" she asked shocked.

"Not quite, but let me wake your comrades first, I shall explain everything."

He took the other injections and walked to the other beds, repeating the procedure, only by the last injection he acted differently, slamming the injection without cleaning and rather violently inside the arm.

The one, who was treated not so gently, was a young man with dark, short hair, an annoying voice and an even more annoying attitude and the only one Kabuto was rude to, something in which everyone agreed.

"So awakes the great Shinichi Hikaru from the slumber of the brave." came the voice from the last awakened member of the Found Four.

"His merciless blade is once more ready to protect the innocent and slaughter all insolent enemies, who are foolish enough to encounter me, who is widely known as..."

"Shut the fuck up Shinichi!" said the blond next to him, holding his head in annoyance. "You are already giving me a headache."

"How should a peasant like you understand and appreciate the beauty of the civilized and cultured speaking, the talented and humble..."

"Hikaru, if you don't shut up I'll kill you." said Kabuto in a deadly whisper, his sclera, the white part of his eyes, covered with red veins, leaving only the Pupil as it is.

Shinichi fall silent instantly, he once made the mistake of not hearing at Kabuto and was defeated in a most humiliating way. Even worse then that, was the fact, that Kabuto was the only one in their Organization, who could heal those wounds and he had to stay two months under the sadistic care/torture of the Medic.

"Of course Kabuto-sama"

Ryu, the blond, was grinning widely, but choose to be silent too. Unlike his friend, he knew when to talk and when to be silent.

"Anyway let me explain your newest mission." He turned to the youngest person in the room. "Are you alright too, Shinta-kun?"

"Yes Kabuto-sama."

"Well then, you have to locate and bring back Sasuke. He is somewhere in Meridian with a powerful sorceress named Nerissa and was enslaved by her. It may be the case that you meet the Guardians or Konoha ninja. If it is the first, do not engage, but you can take out as many Leaf ninja as you can, as long as it doesn't interferes with your mission."

"What if we meet Guardians and Leafs at the same time?"

"Well the Guardians are pretty weak, so you can either ignore them, or disable them for a short time, but it is of importance that they stay alive and healthy. If anyone ignores this, or even slightly injures a Guardian, this will result in death. Clear?"

"Crystal." replied Ryu

"What do you need to know is that Nerissa and the Guardians are enemies too, so you won't have to worry fighting them at the same time."

"I, Hikaru Shinichi, am not afraid of facing several opponents the same time, as all of them will meet utter defeat at the end of my sword." said Shinichi pompously.

Everybody pretended as he didn't speak and continued. "Any more questions?"

"Can we kill Nerissa?" asked Shinta.

"Of course, but try to capture her alive, perhaps she will be of use, but bring her body nonetheless."

"When are we leaving Kabuto-kun?" came the melodic voice of Tomoko.

"Now, your weapons and clothes are in the next room and Tomoko-chan's are in the locket there."

"So then, up we go." said Ryu and left the room together with Shinichi and Shinta, leaving Kabuto with Tomoko.

"You are to report every two days and remember to be careful of the flora and fauna, several of our Shinobi were neutralized by the plants and animals"

"You worry too much Kabuto-kun." laughed Tomoko. "You know that we are much stronger then those losers. Even that jerk Shinichi."

"We suspect that the Rebels are hiding somewhere in the Infinite City, Phobos said Nerissa had a hideout there. I would advise first looking there. Try to be subtle."

"Yes, yes." assured Tomoko. "Karin was right, you worry way too much."

"A pity that Orochimaru wouldn't bring her here, she would have been a great asset and could have located Sasuke much faster."

"Suigetsu would have been a big help too. Too bad he has this little problem with going on a killing spree at times." grinned the 18 year old woman

Kabuto chuckled "Too true, I'll leave now. I expect your report in two days."

Tomoko nodded and watched him leaving the room. 

He waved cheerfully at her "Good luck Tomoko-chan."

"Thank you Kabuto-kun:" she grinned and went to the locker to take her clothes out. After getting dressed she stepped outside tightening the sound forehead protector on her forehead.

Outside were her companions already waiting.

"Enjoyed the goodbye kiss of Kabuto-sama?" asked Ryu innocently.

"Shut up Ryu, or I'll rip out your tongue!"

"Why, used yours too much in the last few minutes?"

Shinta burst out laughing and even Tomoko herself was slightly grinning.

She turned to Shinta and scowled. "Be quiet or I'll assign you a mission with Suigetsu."

Shinta stopped laughing immediately. "Sorry sister:"

"And you Ryu, save your smart ass comments or you'll regret it."

Ryu decided not to push it and nodded, still grinning widely.

"Kabuto-kun gave me a bit more information." said Tomoko.

"Bet he did." whispered Ryu to Shinta, causing him to chuckle.

Tomoko ignored this and continued. "We will head for the Infinite City and start our search for Sasuke in an old hideout of this Nerissa woman."

"How do we get inside?"

"There is an old opening in the village before us, it has caved in but I am pretty sure you can make a new opening Ryu."

"Damn right, I can"

"I guess we are leaving now?" asked Shinta.

"Yes, do you all have your weapons?"

"We all got kunai, shuriken, exploding tags and a few soldier pills." responded Shinta.

"Shinichi has his precious sword and Ryu-sempai got his bow and special arrow bag."

"Then let us leave."

"We shall start our glorious quest right here, my noble friends and we will retrieve our most powerful friend Sasuke-sama back to the path of light, so swears Hikaru Shinichi, the fighter of good and the protector of the innocent and helpless."

Having forgotten his presence, everybody was surprised when he talked liked that again.

Ryu growled dangerously "I'll kill you and when I have done that I'll laugh straight for a week..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After school was finished and everybody went to home, to a) bring their bags away and b) to excuse them from their parents, two of the girls were hurrying out of their homes.

After this was done, Taranee and Irma were racing straight through the streets of Heatherfield, with the destination being the cave in the beach, knowing that Matt, Will and Cornelia would be already waiting.

They decided that for the time being Mr. Huggles should stay with Lillian to protect her, as long Napoleon was in Meridian.

"Where were you guys?" asked an angry Cornelia. "We were waiting for an hour."

"We had a lesson more, sorry that our schedule is a bit longer then yours." answered Irma, trying to breath.

"Yeah, being late is pretty much my job." joked Will weakly.

"Well if everybody is ready, then here we go." spoke Will and opened a fold to the Rebel hideout in Meridian.

They were greeted by a tired looking Tynar.

"It is good you are back Guardians, the Air Guardian arrived an hour ago, a bit earlier the the reconnaissance team."

"Is everybody alright?" asked Matt.

"Well the mission failed, as they were seen by the Murmerers. We forgot to warn them, but they managed to get away safely."

"And Hay Lin and the others?" 

"The white eyed boy is sleeping and should be asleep for at least a day. The Air Guardian is alright as well the other boy, even though he says that he would need a few days to get his colony to his- usual size."

The girls shuddered at the thought of the multiplicating bugs but were relieved to find out everything is okay.

"So what about Elyon and Caleb." asked Cornelia.

"Unfortunately the Queen and Caleb are still unconscious."

"Thank you Tynar" thanked Will and they walked to the others.

"So what do you think we are going to do?" asked Taranee.

"Yeah Will, do you got a plan?"

"Matt said that in the world of the Ninjas were people who had experience with the sort of problems Caleb and Elyon have so I would advise that Taranee, Kakashi and me go to their world and get a doctor for them."

"Reasonable enough." said Matt, watching more and more persons of the Rebellion arrive.

"Cornelia, you, Irma and Hay Lin are going to stay here. Julian has the command right now but you three are going to assist him. As Guardians you are higher ranking then him. The ninjas should hear at you too."

Cornelia and Taranee nodded, glancing at Matt, noticing that he wasn't mentioned.

Apparently he had noticed too.

"Hey you forgot me."

Will looked uneasily at Matt before speaking.

"Matt, I know you got powers now too and that you can take care of yourself but I want you to..."

"NO" burst Matt out "I am no child Will, I can fight and you need my help. I can handle this. I already defeated a ninja."

"Elyon and Caleb were defeated by ninjas and the girls and me had a pretty hard time fighting them, as had you. You need to be on earth, protecting Lillian."

"You need to trust me!" said Matt, angry at Will for being treated like porcelain.

"I do, I do but it is not safe here." pleaded Will.

"Will, I am Regent of Earth and able to hold my ground. You can't order me around. I won't leave to earth, you know how I hate doing nothing."

"Will," interrupted Taranee carefully "He is right."

"He can't handle this Tara, don't you see? He is not experienced enough to fight people like that. Heck, I doubt that even we are."

"That's it." said Matt, walking away.

"Why did you do that?" asked Cornelia confused. "It is obvious that he can handle himself."

"Not to me. He was defeated by Ino who is, mind you, not exactly the strongest around here. He got his powers for a few months, that is not nearly enough."

"You let him fight against Phobos." argumented Taranee.

"We were desperate then and needed him. Now we have allies like the ninjas and can do without him. He should guard Lillian."

"Will, get a hold of yourself. I know you are afraid of losing him because we received a few defeats but that is nothing new. We can do this, but you need to trust every single one of us." said Irma firmly.

"Caleb and Elyon lost a fight, so what? They will be okay and kick butt as soon they are up again."

Will looked uncertain and ashamed and turned away.

"Let us find Kakashi and go there."

The three girls exchanged uneasy glanced but followed their leader to the place where the Ninjas were resting.

Matt was walking through the infinite city without an aim, trying to calm down. What was she thinking? He was not helpless, he was strong, maybe not the strongest but still quite strong. He could fight anybody and didn't need Will trying to be overprotecting.

He had proven it when he saved Caleb or fought in the battle in Kandrakar. Sure back then he got quite the beating, but he learned and improved. Still, Will was not trusting him, did the others thought like that too:?

Was really everybody treating him like an infant, thinking he was just some rookie who got his powers through a mistake?

He had to show them that he too was a good fighter, someone whom they can trust, this meant he had to improve himself.

He was calm again and when he looked around he was not in sight of the Rebel base anymore. Right then, when he wanted to turn back he heard a familiar voice.

"What a long time has it been, my dear heart."

Hatred flooded through his body at the sound of this voice but he controlled himself. Hatred was the way she transformed him to Shagon and he would be damned if he let that happen again.

"Nerissa, how the hell did you escape?" 

"You would like to know that particular information, wouldn't you?"

"If you answered all my Questions now, it would be too easy. To beat them out of you will be a lot more fun."

_This is my chance, if I can beat her they will acknowledge my strength_

He transformed into Shagon and his eyes behind the mask started to glow.

"Now you'll pay Nerissa!"

He lifted from the ground and charged like an angry bison right at her.

"The young ones are so hasty, wouldn't you agree my dear Sasuke."

Before he reached Nerissa, he felt a sharp pain as a leg hit his chin, sending him straight to the sky. While in the air, he felt a presence behind him and the figure was grabbing him at the side, whirling him around and kicking him hardly at the left side of his torso.

Then, that person flipped in midair punching him multiple times in the stomach, changing the direction of his flying to the ground. Right before Matt hit the ground, the stranger rolled, using the spin to increase the force of his attack and finished his attack with a devastating kick to the solar plexus, slamming him to the ground.

"Shi Shi Rendan" (1) said the person calmly and landed smoothly next to Nerissa. Matt was in pain, but not beaten, not yet. He got up, holding his stomach and glared at them.

"So, you found a new minion. I take it he was the one who freed you."

"I always knew you had a sharp mind, my dear boy. It is such a shame, that you fought against the power I gave you. You made a wonderful creature of darkness and still, I offer you that position."

Matt laughed bitterly. "A bit desperate aren't you?"

"Well I gave you a fair chance. Sasuke, finish him off but don't kill him. We will do that when the Guardians are around."

Matt shot a green blast straight at them, but Sasuke reacted fast by grabbing Nerissa and jumping out of the way. He landed safely and put her to the ground, but Matt had predicted where they would land and had shot a blast at that spot too.

Sasuke's hand blurred to his left arm and a giant snake appeared, shielding them from the attack. The force of the green blast killed the snake, but left Sasuke enough time to form some hand signs.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu" Several small fireballs left his mouth, flying towards Matt. This time the young earthling reacted fast and hit the fireballs with green beams, negating the attack.

"It seems you have learned quite the bit." complimented Nerissa.

"But it won't be enough to defeat Sasuke."

"We will see about that." said Matt, but he was thinking the same thing. How could he defeat those two? He had to think, he got a good deal of Lillian's powers and she was able to create dragons and shrink people as long they were in a glamour zone. If he could create a small one, he would be able to control everything and it would be an easy fight.

He concentrated and a yellowish/green ring surrounded the room.

"A glamour zone, how interesting." admired Nerissa, this boy sure has improved.

Matt grinned, of course his opponents couldn't see it but he was more then happy.

"Let's start the real fight."

"Hmpf"

_That guy sure talks a lot._

Two human hands came from the ground, holding his feet and four came out of his torso, making it sure that Sasuke couldn't use his hands.

Matt concentrated a great deal of his energy to his mask and fired a devastating green beam at Sasuke. It blasted a big hole in his stomach and blood started to come out.

The lifeless body dropped to the ground and the glamour zone vanished.

"NOOOOOO!" heard Matt Nerissa's outcry and was shocked himself. He didn't expect to kill him, having thought his enemy was tougher than that.

Still, it was a life or death battle and he couldn't afford to hold back when he was facing two strong enemies.

"It seems you bet on the wrong horse."

Suddenly, three, small snakes wrapped around his neck, lifting him just to slam Matt hard against the wall.

When Matt stood up, he was shocked to see the Sasuke guy, healthy and unharmed standing in front of him.

"How did you regenerate." asked Matt in disbelief.

"I didn't, you have never hit me."

"What did you say? I hit you hard enough to open a hole in your body!"

"That was a genjutsu, someone like you could never hope to hit me."

Black dots covered his whole body within seconds and he grinned cruelly at Matt.

"Now it is time for you to give up. Against my Sharingan" he pointed to his eyes "you stand no chance."

_Against his what_? thought Matt but decided not to ask.

**You need me** came suddenly the voice he hated even more then Nerissa.

_You..._

**Yes me, give me a bit more control over**** the body and I can defeat him.**

_Why should I trust you Shagoff_asked Matt, now standing again in his mind, only to see Shagon there

**Perhaps****, because the bloke there is going to beat you to a pulp and kill you after that.**

_Even tough this is a good point, you would take over my body and instead__ of him Nerissa would have you._

**It is not ****possible; you have broken her spell and imprisoned me in this pathetic mind of yours. You still have the control but you gain my experience, knowledge and powers. It will be the strength you need to prove dear, precious Will **_**your**_** "skills".**

Meanwhile, he was flying around, trying desperately to dodge the shuriken and fireballs.

Sasuke jumped, pulled out his sword in the air and hit him across the chest, but the wound was not deep, luckily for Matt.

„Argh!"

**Decide fast, I don't want to die and if you go to the other side so do I.**

_Damn, ok._

Somehow Matt knew this was a bad decision, but he got no choice. He freed Shagon and let him partly in control. Suddenly images flashed through his mind, pictures of Sasuke's childhood, his memories in which he hated most.

Matt and Shagon felt their powers increasing on the sweet hatred of Sasuke, at his past, at his brother, at his powerless self and the desire to know his brothers whereabouts, to kill him.

The loathing of Sasuke was increasing their power like oil widens the fire, the wound on his chest disappeared and his eyes started to glow menacingly.

"You are good." said Shagon in fake appreciation "But not as good as him of course."

"Him?" asked Sasuke, raising an eyebrow.

"Itachi Uchiha of course."

Sasuke's eyes widened and the usual hateful scowl appeared. The radiating hatred was more then enough for Shagon to finish him up, but he wanted more, far more.

"When I saw him he was really strong." lied Shagon, he had never seen this Itachi before.

"How can you even hope to defeat him?"

"Do... do you know where he is? Tell me!" he waited for a few moments to get an answer and with each passing second his hatred increased drastically.

"TELL ME!" screamed the survivor of the Uchiha clan desperately.

"How much would you hate me if I don't?" asked Shagon dangerously.

Like the last person he asked that Sasuke lost it and charged.

"YOU ARE ABOUT TO FIND OUT!"

Shagon had never hoped to DREAM of someone who had this much hatred inside and this impressive amount even doubled after his last push.

While charging, the black dots covered his whole body, changing the colour of his skin to a darker tone, his hair became longer and bluish and a black spot appeared on his nose.

Little fangs formed in his mound and his hands became claws, and out of his back two giant hands grew out, being able to be used as wings and as a shield.

Those unusual wings started to clap and his speed doubled, disabling Shagon in the task of following him with his eyes. Sasuke punched him hardly in the stomach, sending him flying against the wall and forcing the wall to cave in.

A satisfied smile appeared on Sasuke's face, only to change into a growl when Shagon stepped up lazily, brushing the dust from his body.

"Tickles. You punch like a baby." This was only partly true, Sasuke's strength was impressive, even more when he was in level two of his cursed seal but to Shagon, who's power were fueled by Sasuke and his insane amount of hatred it did no more damage then a baby could deliver.

"Calm down you fool. He is using your emotions against you." scolded Nerissa, truly impressed by the power of Shagon. Somehow her old minion had awakened, but he was fighting against her and he didn't take it well that she used the life force of the Knights to create the old Guardians.

Shagon, now remembering Nerissa again, decided to have a little fun and used Lillian's power to glamour Nerissa, to look like Itachi and when Sasuke turned around to look at his mistress, he saw his brother, whom he detested.

"ITACHI! PREPARE TO DIE!" he forced a huge amount of chakra into his hand to form the flapping One thousand birds. (2)

The sound of thousand birds filled the place, creating a noticeable tension in the room and Sasuke charged at his brother, moving even faster then before.

Nerissa didn't see him but the second he vanished she teletransported behind Shagon, dispelling the glamour spell and letting Sasuke slam into the wall, causing a huge hole and the cave in of a whole section.

Nerissa glared at Shagon. "You will pay for that."

"I would like to see you try." said Shagon without turning around.

In the meanwhile Sasuke had stepped out again, glaring at the former Knight of Destruction.

He smiled suddenly and the cursed seal retreated, leaving him at his old self, only the Sharingan remained active.

"Already giving up?"

"You are pathetic." said Sasuke. "You fight cowardly."

"Uwää uwää, go tell your Mommy that nasty Shagon is fighting unfair. Oh wait you can't, cause she was killed by your brother." hollow and sinister laughter filled the room.

Sasuke was shacking of fury, but he managed to control his self.

"I'll kill you, but I don't even need the cursed seal for that." He took out a scroll and inside a giant shuriken appeared, almost as big as a dog.

He took it and started to channel his chakra inside, and hurling two kunai at the same time, which Shagon could dodge effortlessly.

"If you are so strong then capture this!"

With all his might he hurled the gigantic shuriken at Shagon but he lazily stepped to the side.

"That was it?"

Sasuke grinned cruelly and pulled his hands back, revealing strings.

Shagon whirled around to see the fuuma shuriken coming back. Now concentrating on the trouble of the Shuriken Sasuke used this to hurl a regular shuriken at his back. (3)

Shagon managed to blast the gigantic one away, but it was too late to avoid the little one.

In this moment, Sasuke's hands blurred through hand seals and the shuriken multiplied to at least a dozen. The shurikens drilled into the back of the dark angel, spilling blood everywhere.

"Shuriken kage bunshin no Jutsu." (4) stated Sasuke. "I will enjoy this." he concentrated chakra at his hand forming a normal chidori and after a few seconds he was ready. He charged, his Sharingan fixed at Shagon, slamming his chidori through the body of his enemy.

The defeated monster, thanks to the insane amount of collected hatred, managed to heal the deadly wound and transformed back to Matt.

The young boy collapsed, panting heavily, gritting his teeth in pain.

"Not so tough anymore are you?" asked Sasuke, stepping forward to Matt.

He searched his pockets until he found what he wanted and threw the mage ring to Nerissa.

"I changed my opinion, he was quite the trouble, kill him." ordered Nerissa.

"As you wish mistress..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Shi Shi Rendan** (Lion Combo). By using Shadow Leaf Dance (Kage Buya) one moves in the shadow of the enemy and delivers a devastating combo of punches and kicks in midair.

**Habataku Chidori** (Flapping one thousand birds) being fuelled by the power of the cursed seal lvl two this is an even more powerful than the normal chidori.

**Sofushasan no Tachi **(Manipulating Windmill Triple Blades) using several kunai with attached wires, the user is able to manipulate the Windmill shuriken back.

**Kage Shuriken no Jutsu **(Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique) Basically it multiplies a shuriken, the more chakra spend, the more shuriken it will create.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N

Well, that was another chapter and I wanted to as you a question. Perhaps you have realized that I used both, English and Japanese, for the attack names and wanted to know what would you like more, reading the attacks in the original Japanese, with the explanation at the end of the chapter or the English translated name?

Please tell me, then I am not sure, since there are good reasons for both of it.


	8. The Research

I wanted to thank everybody who read my story, especially the ones who took their time to review it, I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well.

Special thanks to Guardian's Light, who was so kind to BETA this chapter, so you will come to the joy of reading a chapter with far less mistakes.

silence do good: Thank you for your review, you will see what will happen now

The Crazy Talk Kid: Thanks for the tip, I will keep mixing it, hope it will suit the others as well.

Sasuke9031: The real Shagon can see or better read the memories based on the emotion of hatred and Itachi's face is the centre of Sasuke's hatred, so he could know it, but they have never met and he never knew about him before the fight.

Alexis kiah: They are more like regular bunshin, say clones. They have no shadows, are more of an illusion and disappear as soon as something touches them but they can't touch anything. Who knows, perhaps she will learn this skill, anything might happen

Guardian's Light: First, thank you very much for BETA reading this chapter and yeah, pretty much everything went wrong, but still, the real struggles are just about to begin.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could

So without further talk, here is the next chapter, have fun reading.

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Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)

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"HUMAN BULLET TANK" yelled a voice and Choji, as a giant bolder, rushed at Sasuke, who gave up the task of killing Matt, to jump to safety.

"Choji." acknowledged Sasuke. "What do you want?"

"Saving a friend, and unlike the last time, I will not fail."

"I don't want to fight you, so just step out the way."

"What if I don't?"

"Then I'll have to kill you, to fulfill the orders of my mistress."

"First Orochimaru and now this old hag? You sure have fallen."

"I need strength, strength I could not gain in Konoha."

"I'll prove you wrong by defeating you now."

"Bring it on Choji, you were always the weakest ninja, what makes you think you can defeat me now?" his Sharingan eyes fixing at the young ninja, he took a battle stance.

"What makes you think he is alone?" interrupted Matt, now on his feet again.

"Enough, we got what we wanted." said Nerissa, angry that she couldn't finish it and opened a fold with the ring. "We leave."

"Yes mistress." without glancing back they stepped through the fold and disappeared.

"Are you okay?" asked Choji, looking at the boy.

"He hit me with a load of throwing stars and this Chidori thing." explained Matt slowly. "WHAT DO YOU THINK?"

Choji grinned weakly and started walking back with Matt. "Well you seem awfully intact after receiving such lethal blows."

"In my morphed form, I am a lot more durable, but the healing did cost me a heck of energy."

"At least you are alive. We have to report to Kakashi-sensei."

"Is there any chance for not telling Will about this?"

"What's your guess?"

Matt sighted and dropped his head in defeat, partly wishing that this Sasuke had finished him off.

"Did you see anything of the fight?" he asked, at least hoping he would have some backup on the amazing fighting he showed back then.

"You mean besides getting beaten up by him?"

"Ahem, yeah?"

"Sorry no, only the part, when his Chidori pierced through your stomach, leaving you just like a useless sack of potatoes."

"Thanks for the comparison." said Matt lamely.

"No need, well we should hurry, can you run?"

"Nope, I doubt that I can manage to walk back."

"Well we have to try, won't we?" said Choji, smiling widely.

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Phobos while sitting in his, or more correctly Elyon's, throne, was lost in his thoughts; planning and calculating the next steps in his plan. What to do now, after having conquered Meridian again? Invade the other worlds? Sure, Earth would be a good option; he could wipe out the roots of the Guardians once at for all. The last two Generations of Guardians had been born on Earth so maybe the loss of that world would bring a serious advantage to him.

Then again, why should he rush it, maybe staying here and preparing would be a much better choice, but if he waited too long, that damned veil would be raised again, thus cutting him off from the universe, leaving him to deal with a bit more experienced Guardians and his sister.

So the next logical thing would be attacking Kandrakar, to disable the cursed Oracle and his elders and stop the raising of the veil again, still there was this question, how to get there?

Phobos sighted and looked around, seeing this disgustingly cheery castle, it was too bright, to warm, like the days before, the days he hated, while he was just a prince, who had to obey his parents.

They had made his life a living hell, maybe not intentionally, but they did nonetheless. Having restrained him from using his powers, _that_ power especially, the cursed power of the universe. The ability to drain and absorb the life force of others, a rare power indeed and history had told that only the foulest creatures, beings and magic users had that particular ability.

It was the ability which was against the nature itself, existing only to oppose the circle of life. A power, which only lived to destroy life, to make itself stronger and to destroy even more.

His parents had been horrified when they found out and strictly forbid him to use it, going so far as to threaten him to drain him of all of his powers if he didn't oblige.

Of course he was angry, really angry with this, but at first he could respect that, after all, it was not a "good" power and the most feared beings in the history had this power; like Baltor, the Devil of Kandrakar, being the first Oracle ever, who had been corrupted by the immense power and responsibility he held and was finally brought down by the first generation of Guardians.

According to the legends it was one of the three most intense battles ever happened and it took the life of the Air and Earth Guardian.

Phobos remembered those stories well, having heard them from his old history professor, who had to teach him, due to his parents.

The prince wondered what happened to him, he sure was one good sorcerer. Oh, right, he had killed him when the old fool was angry at the prince for killing his own parents. Sometimes it was hard to keep track.

Somehow he was still lucky to be born into the royal family, otherwise, as a normal citizen, he would have been killed the moment he displayed those powers.

Royalty, blood connections, family, did those have any meaning in the end? Finally everything was determined by power, the power to force through your own way, the power to stand up against everybody, the power to survive, to control.

Power was the only thing Phobos believed in, not in destiny or fate, neither in higher beings but only in power. People saw him as a tyrant and they were right about it, all he did was make them suffer for petty reasons, sure it was fun and sometimes necessary but over the time being, it had become more of a habit.

Now, alone in this bright room, he suddenly realized the reason of his constant defeats to the Guardians. He was alone, everybody was his enemy. The Guardians, his allies and every citizen of Meridian, he had made them his enemies.

True, he had to make sure not to lose his power and status but he also had to make sure, that they didn't hate him.

The rebellion would have never succeeded if the population of Meridian hadn't supported them, wishing him to fall.

Cedric and his other subordinates would have never betrayed him, if he would have treated them differently.

The Guardians would have never won if he had a trustworthy ally, a comrade, a friend at his side.

From now on he had to change things, it was not about having the absolute power, it was about to have the secure power, he had to make different steps then before, he had to develop.

With a wink of his hand he opened the chest in the corner of the room, and took out a yellow book, with yellow insignias.

He opened it and started to read, searching for a solution to his problem, wondering if he could use _this_ spell…

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"YOU HAVE WHAT!?" asked Will in disbelief. "First you tell me you can take care of yourself and the next second you leave the base carelessly and get beaten up by Nerissa, who somehow managed to escape, and her new slave?"

"That sums it up pretty good." answered Matt, angry at himself for losing like that. "Still I gave him a run for his money."

"But it wasn't enough." argued Will. "You are lucky that Choji came, otherwise you would be dead."

"Everybody in our group, save Kakashi-sensei, would have met the same fate, had anyone encountered him alone." said Choji, trying to calm Will down.

"You're joking," interrupted Taranee.

"Unfortunately not." said Ino, having finished Matt' check up. "Uchiha Sasuke is a very dangerous opponent, especially after having received Orochimaru's training for more then two years."

"Still, he is changing sides pretty fast, if you ask me," lamented Irma, looking slightly bored at the group.

"So what are the next steps?"

Will sighed and took the Heart out, looking carefully at the ninjas and her friends. "Please call Kakashi. Then he, Taranee, Irma, Matt and I will bring Elyon and Caleb to their world, maybe they can cure them."

Her glance wandered to Cornelia, fixing at the blond. "Corny, you will be in charge while we are away. If something happens, evacuate to the cave in Heatherfield, you still have Blunk here."

"Will, I want to come along too! Elyon is my best friend and Caleb, you know what they mean to me." demanded Cornelia, shocked, that Will didn't have the insight to take her with them in the first place.

"I know that she is your best friend, but I need someone here who can take the responsibility to lead if things get harsh while we are away. Even tough Irma and Hay Lin are Guardians I know that they wouldn't feel too comfortable with having the command right now."

Cornelia, wanting to argue more, but didn't respond, seeing the logic behind the decision. Hay Lin and Irma were still a bit immature for leadership, while she and Will were those who could make the best decisions for now. Taranee wouldn't have the self-confidence to do this and even if she had stayed, Will would need her telepathically abilities for fast communication.

"Make sure Elyon and Caleb get better."

"No need to worry, Corny." replied Irma, grinning assuring at the blond Guardian. "You know, we are the best."

Matt and Will left to fetch both injured Meridians while Ino went to search Kakashi, and after five minutes everyone had been gathered. Matt, carrying Elyon in his Shagon form; Will, transporting Caleb in the bubble; Kakashi, reading his book, and Irma and Taranee looking anxiously around, wondering how the new world will be.

Without a word Will opened a fold and they stepped through, only to emerge in Kandrakar.

"What brings you here, Guardian," came the calm voice of the Oracle, who was sitting on something resembling a pulsating stone, his eyes closed.

"We need to know of what to think of to get to their world, since they both have the same name." said Will firmly.

"Oh yes, you wouldn't know that. The planet is called Yochi." (Earth in Japanese)

"I said that all along." said Kakashi, his eye watching the Oracle.

The Oracle smiled knowingly, something the girls had learned to despise, and his hands started to glow. A red wave left his right hand and hit Will, Taranee, Irma, Elyon and Caleb, letting them glow red for a second. Kakashi, already having experienced this once, knew what it was, while Irma, Will and Taranee were startled.

"What did you do to us?" asked Taranee angry, if there was something Taranee hated, then it was not knowing something, and not knowing what happened to her and her friends was especially annoying.

"You will understand the language of their world now; you could understand the others only because I used this spell on them before."

"Wow, this would have been useful in French lessons in school." muttered Irma impressed.

Will nodded gratefully and without another word she opened another fold, but before they could step through the voice of the Oracle resonated.

"My condolence to the loss of your father…Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi, losing his cool for a second, turned hastily around, facing the Oracle wide eyed.

"You…you knew my father?"

"Of course, he once did a favor for Kandrakar and was rewarded with the White Light Chakra Sabre, one of the few blades of Kandrakar. I see that you don't carry it."

"It was…broken in combat."

The Oracle sighted and looked distantly at the sky of Kandrakar. "I see, such a shame, it was supposed to be indestructible as long the Heart of the wielder was unshaken. You realize now why it has been destroyed?"

Kakashi only nodded, and turned around, only to step wordlessly into the fold, as the girls and Matt exchanged uneasy glances and stepped through as well.

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Only seconds later, they were standing in the middle of a forest, somewhere in the ninja world.

"So, where the hell are we now?" asked Matt, looking around as if foreign ninjas would jump out of the trees any second.

"Well, I don't know, we are in some forest, it could be anywhere." Kakashi answered casually, and turned a page of his book, not caring the slightest that they were lost and probably in the territory of a potential enemy.

"So what are we going to do about it?" asked Irma. "Use a pendulum to find your Village or just ask the next squirrel?"

"Neither of those." responded the adult, bit his thumb and started to perform hand seals. After pressing his palms to the ground, Pakkun appeared once again, looking at the group, greeting them by raising one of his paws.

"Yo children."

"Go and find out where we are." ordered Kakashi, while looking as stoically as before to the Guardians and Matt, Pakkun noticed the difference in his master.

"Are you alright, Kakashi," asked the dog, looking at him worriedly.

"Yeah," answered the Sharingan user absently.

Pakkun didn't answer but started to sniff around and disappeared in the forest.

"So we just wait for the dog to find your village?"

"Yes."

"One moment, I will go and fetch my pendulum," commented Irma sarcastically, apparently not believing that the dog could track down a Village, meat maybe but certainly not a whole Village.

After five minutes of waiting, Pakkun returned and reported.

"We are near the border to the Country of Waterfall, so we should need a few hours in our regular speed, a few days if we walk."

"So to the south-east it is…thank you Pakkun."

"No need." Replied the dog and vanished in a small cloud of smoke.

"So you follow me flying, and try to stay under the trees." Said Kakashi and took off.

Will and the others, startled by the sudden departure, needed a few seconds to adapt, and assured the bubble around Caleb before following Kakashi. Matt, holding the blanket with Elyon tighter, started to clap his enormous wings and started to soar after the others, enjoying the feeling of flying once again.

The girls were used to flying by now, but to Matt in meant that a life long dream came true, to soar across the sky like a bird, something humans have dreamed about for the longest measure of time.

He enjoyed the feeling of the wind brushing against him; the forcefully clapping of his wings to gain a faster and faster speed, the freedom of the sky, yes, this was something Matt loved.

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Meanwhile, Cornelia and Hay Lin were sitting with Ino and Choji, while Hinata was treating Neji, who was still out cold and Shikamaru had left with Shino to patrol around the base, getting information about Meridian by talking to as many soldiers as possible.

Aldarn, Caleb's best friend and second in command over the troops, was walking to on of the outer points, while Shikamaru was accompanying him.

"You guys sure came in the right moment, otherwise, things would have turned out really bad." said Aldarn, while greeting a few soldiers with a respectful nod.

"It was an order, but other than that. It depresses me to no end that everybody here is on a much higher power level then us."

Aldarn laughed bitterly. "I know what you mean, we have fought our entire lives against them, and in terms of power we were inferior to you, but still we managed to survive."

Shikamaru looked warily at him and noticed Shino appearing beside him; apparently he had heard the last part of the conversation.

"I am sure it was not due you finding a weak point to exploit." He said in his usual emotionless voice.

"Well, everybody has weaknesses and theirs was not being the brightest stars in the sky and underestimating us because of our lack of power. You too must have met people like that."

Both Shinobi, thinking back at opponents, nodded.

"You know, if you fight for something you love, and risk everything for it, no matter who you fight, no matter how long it takes, you will be victorious in the end." Aldarn said with a determined passion, which surprised the ninjas.

"Caleb taught us to fight as long as possible and to never give up, no matter how bad the situation was. He really was the head and spirit of the Rebellion, since his childhood he fought against Phobos. You must know that Phobos had oppressed the world for several centuries and every time a resistance started, it was crushed by him. But Caleb, trailing and finding the remaining of those Rebellions united them and started to build a giant army of people who wanted to rebel against the tyranny of Phobos. 

He was twelve by then, and was resisting since he was eight; still, people took him seriously. He had the intellect and the guts to stand up to Phobos when everybody else was too afraid. He inspired and motivated the people and one day attacked a wagon with food. The people were always hungry but still didn't dare to go against the Guards but Caleb did it.

He fought off four Guards singlehandedly and he was a child. He didn't defeat them with his strength but with his wits and that was the moment the Rebellion really started. Everybody saw that you didn't need strength to defeat a stronger enemy but it was a matter of outthinking him.

And that's why I think we will be victorious again, as long as we have Caleb or the same spirit as him, we can't, we won't lose. Meridian will be free once again."

Shikamaru and Shino, remembering the Will of Fire of Konoha, smiled and in this moment Shikamaru was about to believe him.

Unintentionally he was thinking at Naruto, why he didn't know himself. _"What would you do, Naruto…?"_

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The Sound Four were currently running through the woods of Meridian, and were having an argument for the fourth time in the thirty minutes. The reason was not the direction they were heading, or even their orders; it was simple more of habit.

"I am asking you, why can't I kill him?"

Rolling her eyes, Tomoko turned to Ryu, annoyed by his constant whining.

"You know exactly why."

"Sure, but we can make an exception, I deserve at least that much, after having dealt with him for years."

"You can't kill him." hissed Tomoko, "He is our teammate."

"Yeah, lucky us." sneered Ryu, looking extremely unpleased by the turn of events. Shinta, smiling the whole time looked, at the subject of the conversation, was not aware of all this by being in his own dream world again.

Shinta shook his head and returned his attention to the trees, when he landed on a branch and jumped the same second, using the force of the jump to go farther.

"We are in the village." said Tomoko while landing on the roof of the first house. "Now we have to search the place of the old entrance." She made sure that everyone was paying attention to her and was satisfied to see that they were.

"So, what are you waiting for, depart…"

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Nerissa, sitting in her old hideout she used as long she was the Mage, was looking through various books, reading intensely, while being watched by a bored Sasuke.

"You are wondering what I am looking at, do you?" spoke Nerissa suddenly, looking at Sasuke, who was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed.

"Yes." He answered shortly, not moving a bit.

"I am searching for the ideal planet to conquer and claim a Heart, a planet easy to invade."

"You don't know any?"

"Certainly, I do know of a few, but unfortunately I already tried them the last time and there are two more worlds but it would be impossible for us to succeed, with us being only two."

"I am strong; if there are any strong opponents I can fight them to become even stronger."

Nerissa glared angrily at him. "Quiet, you fool; you cannot take on a well guarded Heart by yourself, later when we have found the right allies maybe, but not now."

Really, what was wrong with him? He had strong willpower; Nerissa could tell that, since he had that much of his personality left, after being enslaved by her, still there was a difference between self-confidence and foolishness.

The mind of this boy was not normal, it was messed up. The moment she got the power of a Heart, she would secure her control over him and try to fix it, what use was a mindless moron for her? The Knights of Vengeance had proven that the likes of them were useless; charging at the enemy at the first opportunity, not thinking everything through; planning was the most important task, planning and patience.

Nerissa knew all the rules of this particular game, after having spent an enormously long time alone in a cage. The only thing left to do was think. She had figured out how to conquer the Universe and how to bring the order back.

The order; a word, a dream, an ambition; a goal worth fighting for, no matter the cost; she had to achieve it. 

She closed the book and looked triumphantly at Sasuke, while grabbing her cane again.  
"We are going, prepare for a few battles, as the planet we are going to visit is not really safe."

Sasuke smirked arrogantly when he started to step towards her, activating his advanced bloodline limit for a short time.

"As long as I have those eyes, there is nothing you should be afraid of."

Nerissa smiled. "Is that so? Well, we shall see."

She swung her hand with the ring and opened a fold in front of them and they stepped through it, only to arrive on a high mountain, but strangely it was as warm as a tropical island, even though it seemed they were at least at several thousand meters height.

"This mountain is…unusual." noticed Sasuke, looking interested at the vegetation of the mountain.

"The natives of this world are rather primitive, but they are no humans. They are animals with intelligence near a human, in perhaps, a few thousand years their minds will develop to the same level."

"And one of them has such a "Heart"?" asked Sasuke.

"Not quiet, one of them IS a Heart. You have to know, every planet, every world has a Heart, which is the source of mystical energy of the world."

"How do we take the power if this animal is the Heart, defeat it in battle?" suggested Sasuke, only to be laughed at by Nerissa.

"Why do you think we would win a fight against a Heart, my dear heart?" mocked the sorceress. "Even though he could not use it intelligently, his instincts would be more then enough to defeat us. No, what we need is a much more civilized way."

She stopped after detecting two giant beings, one of them resembling a cross between a bear and a horse and other having so many strange parts, it was almost impossible to tell which animal it resembled most. If Sasuke would have to describe it, he would say it looked like Orochimaru's failed experiments. If he had tried to cross six animals, like a Tiger, a Dog, a Rhinoceros, a Zebra and a few others.

"But I don't think you will come too short in the fighting side."

"It seems so." stated Sasuke flatly before

The inhabitants of the planet Zoan and Sasuke jumped at the same time and clashed in midair, resulting in Sasuke kicking them both in the jars, sending the natives flying against a few rocks.

Sasuke flipped before he made contact with the earth and landed smoothly, only the second he landed, his legs gave in and he found himself sitting on the ground, his legs shaking madly.

_That much strain on my legs by just one kick? __They have an insane solid skin._

The bear like creature was the first one to recover and leaped on Sasuke, trying to rake through his flesh. The young Uchiha, not able to stand up, rolled to the side and took out a kunai and stabbed his enemy the moment, it landed next to him.

The wounded animal roared in pain and sent his mighty paw flying towards Sasuke, who used his arms to repel himself from the ground, a flip in midair secured the necessary eye contact and he started to form a few hand seals. "_Fire Release: Giant Fireball_" he said calmly, and a huge ball of fire left his mouth, engulfing the opponent in a hot inferno, setting his fur on fire.

The native rolled n the ground, screaming in agony and pain, trying desperately to put the fire out but Sasuke, who landed safely, just performed the same hand seals again, hitting it with an even bigger fireball, ending its life and leaving only a badly burned body behind.

The other one, who just recovered from the first kick and the harsh landing, growled furiously as he discovered the burning corpse of his friend and howled similar to a wolf, before he charged at Sasuke with unmatched speed.

Having no choice, the avenger had to use his momentarily unreliable legs to move away, but he stumbled, falling again, still escaping the terrific strike of the hoof.

_My legs are still that affected by one kick, hand to hand combat would be a grave mistake against the__m._

When the animal, his five huge horns on his face still pointed at Sasuke, charged again the young Uchiha jumped this time over the beast, only to land on his back. Before the native could start to rampage, he pulled out his Sword of Kusanagi from his back and slammed it deep into a spot, right below the neck, killing it in an instant.

The huge mythological creature did a few more steps and landed on his stomach, sliding a few meters, stopping only a few centimeters before Nerissa's feet. The Sorceress smiled, when Sasuke cleaned his sword with a white sheet of clothing and slowly climbed down from the corpse, collapsing on the ground.

The jump he did right now, was in medical terms a foolish decision, but it did save his life.

"You didn't move." Sasuke says stating the obvious. "One more step and it would have collapsed on you."

"I trusted you to not let that happen, my dear heart." She walked to the corpse and looked disgusted at the fallen native, back in her Guardian days, they had come here once and it had been a similar confrontation. Only they were five Guardians facing seven of those beasts and it took them half an hour to get the better of the fight, of course they didn't try to kill them like the ninja right now, still it was impressive that he took out two of them in mere minutes.

"These are of the more primitive ones of this planet, so I take it we are in the southern hemisphere, but the Heart should be in northern part of the world."

She slammed her staff in the ground and spoke a few strange words and the staff started to project images of the habitants of the planet.

"It will stop once it has found the Heart; you can take the time to recover." Spoke Nerissa as she sat down on a stone, soon enough she would be sitting on a throne.

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They were flying for a few hours now and still seemed not to arrive in Konoha. Kakashi was leading the way and had still not spoken, only jumped impressively from branch to branch in silence, looking out for eventual enemies.

"You would think the trees are moving as well." said Irma, as they were in such a big forest. "But at least the trees are not disgustingly purple."

"Zamballa sure warms some unpleasant memories." said Will, glancing shortly at Matt, who carried the young Queen in his arms, wrapped in a blanket. She could not tell if he listened as his mask made it impossible for her and everybody else, to read his expression.

Matt had heard her, but decided not to react. Zamballa was the place where he and the Knights of Destruction lived up to their name and nearly wiped out the population.

He was still ashamed at his actions, even though it was not completely his fault but the monster's.

**Aww, you shouldn't be so harsh, you actually hurt my feelings.**

_Too bad__, Shagoff. I am nearly sorry. _

**You know, you could be a bit politer to me, as I saved your sorry life back then.**

_Why are you here, I thought you would need a bit more time to recover?_ Matt asked Shagon in his mind, ignoring his comment.

**Were you concerned?**

_Are you joking?_

Shagon snorted and shook his head, disappearing in the depths of Matt's mind, leaving him alone again. The regent was not entirely comfortable, having Shagon in his mind again, but it was a necessary evil, and he needed the extra power to keep up with the ninjas. He was pretty sure now, after thinking about it for several hours, that he would be able to suppress Shagon, as it was Nerissa who had created him and by overpowering Nerissa's spell he had automatically overpowered Shagon. Also, all of Nerissa's magic had left him when she created the old Guardians.

When he concentrated on the situation again, he noticed Kakashi had stopped and he could see a small mountain. When the group stopped and landed next to Kakashi, they noticed a huge wooden gate, with a red Japanese kanji on it. Strangely, the group could read it and it meant Fire.

"Wow, never thought that I could learn Japanese." said Irma impressed.

"Yeah, since you struggle that much with English." Taranee says grinning which causes Matt to burst out laughing. It was not common that Irma was at the receiving end of a joke.

Irma, being a great supporter of jokes and funny comments, was someone who could laugh about herself and grinned as well. "It worked for me until now."

"We will enter." Kakashi informed them and started walking slowly towards the gate. The Guardians and Matt followed closely and watched how the adult greeted the Guards and walked into the full street.

It was just like a main street back on earth, countless people wandering and hurrying around, trying to finish their business. Shops and stores everywhere and it was rather loud, but still it had an aura of nostalgia.

Kakashi's eye frantically searched through the crowd of people, looking for someone familiar until he detected a pink, haired head, closely followed by a head with two buns. 

_There she is_.

Kakashi disappeared only to reappear just behind the two spotted heads and grabbed them at their collars, both shrieking in surprise and turned around immediately.

"Ka…Kakashi-sensei?" stammered Sakura Haruno, the pink haired medical student that was carrying a load of books and scrolls.

"Aren't you supposed to be on mission?" asked Tenten, the girl wearing a white Chinese style shirt and red trousers and having two buns. She was also carrying a stack of books and scrolls.

"I need your help for a moment." He said, his eye making it clear that he smiled and dragging them by their collars he vanished with them on the spot, letting all the books and scrolls fall to the ground.

They reappeared in front of the Guardians and Kakashi patted the new two girls on the head. "This in Tenten-chan and Sakura-chan. They will take you to the hospital, while I am talking to Tsunade-sama to get an appointment. Take care."

Without leaving anybody time to respond he vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving everybody staring at the place he just used to be standing.

"You will pay for that, Kakashi-sensei." muttered the pink haired girl. "Well it can't be helped, I am Haruno Sakura, and this is Tenten, please follow us, we will lead the way to the hospital."

"What is _that?_" asked Tenten incredulously, pointing at the huge, purple bubble, containing Caleb.

"He is one of the two people that need medical treatment." spoke Will, unsure of the situation.

While the two ninjas picked up the scrolls and books again they lead the way wordlessly, being suspicious of the group, looking like fairies and one demon.

Then Taranee, who had realized this too, send a telepathically message at the girls.

"_You guys do realize that we stand out a bit." _

"_Ge__ee, Taranee, how did you notice?"_

"_You are right Tara." _said Will, ignoring Irma's snide comment. "_We should transform back as soon as possible"._

"Excuse us please." said Will and went quickly into a corner together with the two other girls and Matt and they transformed back.

If Tenten and Sakura found this abnormally strange, they didn't mention it and continued their way stoically, until they arrived at the hospital.

Sakura talked quickly to the woman at the front desk and got two stretchers for Elyon and Caleb. As soon as the rebel leader was freed from the bubble, he started wincing and rolling around in pain.

Sakura stared terrified at the tattoo like symbol on his right arm, knowing exactly what it was.

"A cursed seal? You guys have met Orochimaru." Sakura stated, hope flaring up in her. "Where is he, tell me where he is."

"What do you want from this Snake creep?" asked Irma suspiciously while Will looked angry at Sakura.

"I thought you were a doctor, so can you please take care of them first and question us later?"

Sakura blushed and apologized before leaving with a group of medics to treat the patients and in that same moment Kakashi appeared.

"Tsunade-sama, the Godaime (Fifth) Hokage, is awaiting us now."

The girls and Matt nodded and followed him again through the town, until they reached the main building.

Once inside, they walked up several stairs until they were in front of an imposing wooden door.

The ninja opened it and walked in with the Guardians, standing in front of a pretty blonde woman who appeared to be in her late twenties, and was looking intensely at them.

"So you are the Guardians of Kandrakar."

"Yes ma'am." chorused all three girls, earning a glare of the Hokage.

"I heard that one of your companions has received a cursed seal, so I sent Shizune to take care of him. I personally educated and trained Shizune so no need to worry. I will look at him after our meeting." explained Tsunade.

"And Elyon?"

"I am perfectly sure that she will be healthy as soon she awakes but if that what you are saying is true, it is not possible for me to do this. We would need a special man, who has specialized in seals."

"You mean this guy who is away right now?"

"The very same, so it should take a while to find him. Kakashi informed me about everything and also I think here is someone you know."

Right then Yan Lin stepped out of a corner of the room.  
"Long time no see." smiled the old woman gently.

"Mrs. Lin, what are you doing here?" asked Irma.

"Well, I guess you call it "Hanging out here"."

"Are you here often, in the different dimension of ninjas?" asked Taranee, as if it was common to travel at places like this.

"Nah, only once every few decades." said the former Guardian lightly.

She turned to Tsunade. "Well, I guess it would be better if you look for the Queen."

"Right, right." sighed Tsunade, looking wistfully at her bookcase, where here secret sake was stored.

"Guess it can't be helped."

While the group went towards the hospital, many people on the street greeted Tsunade respectfully and when they entered it, a black haired woman ran towards them.

"Tsunade-sama, finally you are here."

"Huh, what's wrong Shizune?"

"The boy is critical at the moment."

Tsunade became serious at once. "Lead the way."

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The four ninjas of the Sound Village were casually walking through the small, old town, looking for signs of the entrance to the Infinite City.

"I can't believe we haven't found it yet." complained Ryu, looking bored at the wooden houses.

"I can't believe you're whining like a baby." hissed an annoyed Tomoko, stepping forward as she felt the sand under her shoes. This was strange, until now, every way inside the town had a stone road but here, this part, this very spot was fully covered with sand.

Shrugging it off she continued to walk as she suddenly senses danger.

The sand at her feet started to move, and sand tentacles tried to grab her and her team mates. Ryu jumped, grabbed his bow and an arrow from his quiver, and fired it at the moving sand.

Before it hit the sand, the arrow started to glow yellow and caused a huge explosion when it hit the ground, disabling everybody to see properly as a storm of dust whirled up, blocking their sight.

When it cleared Tomoko was completely covered in sand, and the sand extended to form a human like shape.

"Is that Gaara guy here?" asked Ryu suspiciously, when he eyed the sand moving.

"No, I don't think so; otherwise he would have killed us for sure, having caught us off guard like that. This must be the famous Sandpit." said Shinta.

"No matter who he is, he is no opponent for the blade of Shinichi Hikaru, the fearless foe of the fiend who dared to oppose the innocent and brave team leader of mine in such a cowardly way. He shall stick at the end of my sword like rust." With this he charged at the sand, only to be caught by sand at his feet and then lifted into the air and hurled forcefully into a house.

At the same moment figures appeared in the windows and roofs of the houses, all aiming with arrows at the Shinobi. Drake, aiming with an arrow at the head of Shinta, spoke loud and clear.

"Let all your weapons fall to the ground and raise your hands, otherwise we have to end your lives at this spot."

"My, my, it turns out, that we have been caught in an ambush." Ryu chuckled. "But you guys made one mistake."

Drake raised an eyebrow, showing clearly that he doubted this. "And that would be?"

Shinichi, who was on his feet again, smiled and disappeared then reappeared suddenly next to Drake, his blade touching the throat of the rebel captain.

"I thought it was clear, you didn't kill us on the spot." Shinichi answered the question. "And now tell your man to release my friend, brave man and you shall keep your life, as I the generous and humble Shinichi Hikaru, do not wish to shed blood."

Drake reacted quickly and repulsed the sword of the ninja with his own. "ATTACK, ATTACK FOR THE QUEEN AND MERIDIAN!"

"Fools." Said Shinta shaking his head as several arrows flew towards him and starts to skillfully avoid them. At the same time he forms a few hand seals and to the surprise of the Rebels instead of disappearing, parts of him turn into parrots and fly away to all directions.

"What is this?" asked Drake, as he still is engaged to a sword fight with the tall ninja.

"I praise and acknowledge your skill, my friend but I see that you, like everybody, can not match the rare talent of the best swordfighter of the world, who is me, Shinichi Hikaru."

"If you say your name one more time, I am going to be sick." cursed Drake as he started another fierce assault.

Ryu, who had started to break the bows of the opponents with his arrows while avoiding theirs at the same time, suddenly burst out laughing as he heard this.

"You know, I have had to endure this for years." He said, knowing that everybody, no matter if friend or foe, hated Shinichi as much as he did.

"You know." came a voice from behind. "I don't particularly care." When he turned around he was hit in the face by a fist. He stumbled back and when he looked up, he saw a man of the species who were usually the Guards. Tynar, swinging his sword with the left hand, tried to slash him, but this time Ryu managed to block it with his bow.

"SANDPIT." yelled Drake from above, still in an intense fight. "Finish the girl up!"

The sand covering Tomoko tightened and started to suffocate the girl.

Suddenly, to the shock of everyone, the girl started to transform in front of everybody, her whole body turned into smoke. As a smoke cloud she escaped the sand by every little hole in the sand prison, circling around Sandpit, before the whole smoke concentrated on a spot, again forming Tomoko.

"Did you really think this would affect me? My bloodline limit, the Mokusukin, (Smoke skin, or Skin of smoke) allows me transform part of my body, or all, into smoke. Weapons, such like your petty swords and arrows, can't harm me, so get out of our way if you don't want do die."

Sandpit struck again, hitting her with a forceful blow of sand at the head, leading to burst her head open, but unlike before her head turned to smoke and with half her face away she turned to Drake.

"That was the best your pet could do?"

Drake, having never encountered someone like this before, was terrified. Was this girl immortal? If weapons, strikes or any other physical attacks could not harm her, how were they supposed to defeat her?

Phobos, Nerissa and even the other ninjas, he was always convinced were beatable, insanely strong, but beatable nonetheless, but this girl. She was smoke, how did you defeat something like that?

Right now, he realized, they needed the Guardians more then ever, so he did the only logical thing to do.

"BACK!" he yelled, making a last attempt with his sword, to give his men enough time to escape. The rebels scattered fast, having gained practice and experience in that matter for several years, so the only ones remaining on the battle field in a direct confrontation were the Sound Four against Tynar, Drake and Sandpit.

"So, you managed to let nearly everyone of your friends escape." smirked Ryu at Drake while strapping his bow once again on his back.

"What do you mean nearly everyone?" asked Drake suspiciously as the grip on his sword becoming tighter.

"Well, except those three of course." Ryu pointed at the three bodies nailed at the wall with arrows, showing an image of terror.

"You…you monster." gritted the rebel captain through his teeth, his knuckles turning white. Before he could charge recklessly Tynar interfered, knowing that their actual plan should be escaping, as there was no way they could defeat them.

"Sandpit, now!" ordered the former Guard of Phobos, seeing this as their only chance to escape. Sandpit turned into a whirlwind of sand and fled with the two humanoids, disappearing fast in the corners of the village as a small sand tornado.

"Wow, that was a nice escape." complimented Shinta who wasn't really caring that they got away. "You really scared them sis."

"Stop calling me sis." scolded Tomoko, but she was smiling. After all, she did use her bloodline limit after a long time again. The feelings she had when she was smoke is an unbelievable great feeling, unfortunately it is not something which should be used often, as it consumed an insane amount of chakra to change the molecular structure of the human body into smoke.

"So, now they know, that normal troops should run away as soon as they see me, this should make our mission a lot easier."

"Or it will lead the Guardians directly to us, as we would be a main goal." Shinichi surprised everyone with a rare moment of wisdom and professionalism.

"He is right." said Shinta, looking at Shinichi in awe, "It will be hard to avoid a battle against the Guardians if they trail us."

"They won't, and even if they did, you can handle them the way Kabuto-kun would prefer, Shinta."

"Yes my young friend." said Shinichi, placing one of his hands at the younger boys shoulder. "You should believe and trust in your abilities as a Shinobi, just like me, the amazing…"

"Yeah, he got it, so shut the hell up." Ryu rudely interrupts the swordsman.

"Let's just keep searching." Tomoko was annoyed again, why was one of the strongest squads of the Sound like an immature school class?

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Ino, having finished treating the last injured member of their side, was resting in the corner of the base watching the play of colors of the Infinite City. The lime green walls were changing to red, blue, orange and cream, as soon as the light would somehow get there, how was a riddle for the Yamanaka.

She was thinking about their situation and was wondering what would happen in the future, until now, nothing happened but receiving losses after losses. Looking at the two remaining Guardians, she was unsure if they could handle it, even though they were nice and fun to have around, it was another matter to live through the stress of a combat or a war.

On the other hand, they had lived through two harsh wars, which were more than any of the ninjas had, sure they had missions and all, but an actual war was new for everyone except Kakashi-sensei.

Ino hoped that he would return with some serious back up, preferable the Hokage herself, but this was most unlikely.

"Hey, you alright?" asked the familiar voice of Cornelia, sitting down next to her. Ino admired for a few seconds her mature Guardian form, but the wings were the most attention drawing part of her. Such beautiful wings, they resembled flowers and butterflies, but yet strong enough to keep them in the air.

"Yeah, just a bit exhausted, due the healing, but it will go away soon enough."

"Pretty amazing to heal so many people, are you a doctor as well?"

Ino laughed, but shook her head. "No I am just a secondary healer in my cell, to give first aid in necessary situations, to keep them alive until the real medics are coming."

"Still, it is really impressing."

There was an uncomfortable silence before Cornelia spoke again.

"You know, I have the strange feeling that this is just the beginning."

"Of the real chaos you mean?"

"Something like that, it is totally unfair that we have to deal with it. I could be at home, shopping in various malls but instead I am here, in the Infinite City, preparing to fight Ninjas and the personified evil."

"I know it sounds a bit cheesy." began Ino smiling, "But Oracle-sama told us that kinda, the fate of the universe is resting on our shoulders, still, mostly on yours."

"Am I the only one or do you realize it too that the fate of the universe is resting on us a lot?" said Hay Lin cheerfully, joining the conversation alongside Hinata.

Cornelia chuckled. "Yeah, seems that way. Sounds really like one of those bad movies. Fate of the universe, evil sorceress, bad ninjas and perhaps a few thousand years of darkness."

"Perhaps Taranee should write a book of our Guardian life and sell it to Hollywood; we would get a good load of money for it."

"We will see." said the Guardian of Earth before leaning back onto the ground, feeling the cold stone with her wings while gazing at the ceiling.

"Sh…Shikamaru-kun is back with Shino-kun." Said Hinata timidly, looking at the ground.

"Hey you." Said Cornelia suddenly, addressing Hinata, who perked up.

"Look a bit more confident, there are girls who would do anything to have a face like yours, show it a bit more."

Hinata, her face turning the same colour as the fierce red of one of the working rebels, stammered.

"Re…re… really?"

"Well of course not the ones who are looking even close to me, but the rest yeah."

Hay Lin, patting Hinata at the back. "Coming from Corny it is like the best compliment she could give without admiring herself first."

"Don't call me Corny!"….

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	9. The Miracle

I wanted to thank everyone who read my story, especially the ones who took their time to review. I do hope you will enjoy this chapter as well.

Also, special thanks to Guardian's Light, who was so kind to proofread this chapter, and now you will be able to have another chapter without many errors. If you haven't read Tsunami or The Guardians: Beginnings, I advise you to do so, those are two incredibly well written stories.

Sasuke9031: Now that's an idea and even though I can't promise this, I can assure you, that I have great plans for Naruto.

Guardian's Light: Again, I want to thank you for your great help, the moment they will meet Jiraya comes nearer.

DarkInu418: I'll admit that Sakura and the Guardians had a pretty bad start; still, we are going to see how they will develop.

The Crazy Talk Kid: Thank you for your kind reviews for my two one shots, I hope you won't be disappointed with this chapter.

I also wanted to express my gratefulness to those who have added the One Shot "Memories of an Immortal" for the C2 Archives, it is really fantastic and unexpected to be in the same list as the more known writers.

So without any more delays, here comes chapter nine, and chapter ten is half done as well, so you won't have to wait long.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could if I tried.

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"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

Albert Einstein

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_Phobos had just imprisoned Nerissa__ in her very own seal and the foolish crowd in front of him cheered loudly. Fools, ignorant fools, they really thought all the things that happened just now, the flying girls, the magical attacks, the giant Snake and the woman disappearing in a crystal, were actually all some kind of trick._

_How__ he would have enjoyed destroying them, just because of their own ignorance, but they were cheering at him after all, so who was he to complain. _

_He could see the look of horror in the faces of the Guardians and the rebel leader, he didn't bother to look at the cat or the boy since neither of them were actually a danger to him. Not them, not anybody, right now, in this moment he had achieved everything he always wanted, limitless magical force, the divine power which was only granted to the likes of him, who worked for their goals._

_He saw the despair, the anger, the sweet, sweet anger, especially the Keeper, who was beyond furious. He kind of respected her, since she had shown some traits he personally favoured, the drive to win no matter what it takes. He had seen how the girl used her magic in that childish swim duel. She used it against a powerless opponent, someone who had actually believed in a fair fight and yet, she activated her powers over Quintessence to bind her._

_Now, it was a bit hypocritical__ of her to say that he was evil while she was doing the same thing, only on a much smaller scale, but right now, there were more important things to do than gloat. _

_Oh well, a little bit of gloating hasn't hurt anybody; he deserved it, after playing subordinate for the Guardians. He looked one last time at them, directly in the eyes of each face and smirked superiorly. He could see how their rage, their ire grew and was fuelled by him. He would surely savour this moment of triumph. _

_He turned around and walked down the podium to find a nice, quite place to open a fold. Even though he didn't care that he was seen by the humans or how they would react, it was better if they would keep their ignorance, it was so much easier to defeat someone who wasn't expecting an attack after all, and with all their illiteracy they could surely not take that away, could they?_

_He felt that Cedric and Miranda were following him and once they had reached a deserted street, Phobos swung the Seal of Nerissa, creating a fold. He took out a small, green box with golden wings and placed it in his palm, before he waved with his hand over the box, enchanting it to carry a message. _

_Then he opened his hand and watched as the box started to flap its wings and finally soared through the fold, with the destination being Orochimaru. _

_He then turned and opened another fold, this time to Meridian, his precious world, ignoring the questioning looks of Miranda and Cedric. Surely they were aching to know what he had sent just now, but that was certainly none of their business. _

_With a smug smile he stepped through the fold, ready to reclaim his kingdom, and he still could hear the cheers of the humans._

_Phobos returned to Meridian under a gigantic applause, it seems the gods were fond of him ruling again, that is if they existed of course…_

Phobos, returning his attention from the daydream he was having back to the talking Orochimaru, was angry. The dream, reminding him of a soon following defeat, was angering him, really angering him. He looked at Orochimaru, who had seen his sudden change of mood and took, for safety reasons, a step back, giving him enough space to react if the prince should suddenly hurl magical attacks around.

Fortunately this was not the case and instead the tyrant relaxed again, his calm expression taking place in his face once again. Orochimaru, unsure how to handle this, simply continued as if nothing had happened, it was bugging him, no embarrassing him, to behave like that in front of the prince, but it could not be helped.

His body needed at least another week before he could change it, and if he did not have Sasuke, Phobos was the best option, perhaps even the better one.

He would be able to combine the powerful magic of the wizard with his unique ninja abilities, thus forming an invincible man, someone who was immortal and almighty. He wouldn't need another body, the only thing missing would be the Sharingan eyes, but still he could perhaps think of a way to get those.

Maybe it was possible to transfer Phobos power into Sasuke's body and then have both, yes this would make him invincible. He would learn every jutsu; every spell, sorcery and enchantment.

But now, he had to concentrate on other things, otherwise Phobos would react most uncomfortably.

"The Sound Four Squad is just at the way to dispose of Nerissa and get Sasuke back, I have faith that they will succeed."

"If the sorceress is still on Meridian." Phobos didn't like the way Orochimaru was prizing his ninjas, even though Nerissa was no threat to him, this didn't automatically mean she wasn't a threat to his ninjas and he didn't want to lose any more of the precious resources. He would need them once the Guardians attacked with their Shinobi.

"You are underestimating her; she may be an easy opponent to me but remember Orochimaru, so are you."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed, he really didn't liked to be addressed this way, and under other circumstances he would have killed the one speaking but this was, unfortunately, not a regular ally.

"Certainly, but they are, how should I say it, special Shinobi. They belong to the stronger clans in my world."

"You said the same thing about the other trash you brought along and yet, the Guardians friends wiped the floor with them. Do you lie to me, Orochimaru? Maybe your ninja aren't so strong after all; maybe they are just worthless pawns you brought along so you can hide your real, strong ones, for a special opportunity. An opportunity like… attacking me?"

_Bingo_ thought Kabuto, standing behind Orochimaru, and he was shocked that the prince had seen right through everything, since he didn't appear like an abnormally clever person.

Before the member of the Sannin could answer Phobos continued.

"But maybe I am wrong and your ninjas are really strong, well there is only one way to find out."

Orochimaru turned around to see Takato and two other of his subordinates, with furious expressions on their faces, charge harshly at Phobos….

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The face of Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage of the Village hidden in the Leafs, showed the difficulty of the operation she was currently doing very well, being in a grim expression, drops of sweat running along her cheeks, while her hands, glowing in a bright lime green, were resting over the naked chest of the doomed rebel leader.

She nodded at Shizune, who waited with the injection in her hand, and now pressed the needle against his arm and unloaded the serum in him. 

"The serum we just injected was made by the same integrants Soldier Pills are made of, so we will enhance his own chakra, so he can fight the black chakra of the cursed seal." Spoke the legendary medical ninja, mostly talking to Sakura, who was observing very closely.

Through some microphones the Guardians and Matt were enabled to hear what was going on inside the room, thus saving the bothersome task of repeating it.

"Since he is not a ninja he hadn't developed any chakra coils but the cursed seal pushed his own chakra mercilessly through the coils, making them bigger and activating them in a most cruel way. The pain he must have endured was certainly above most tortures."

Tsunade's glowing hands were now right above Caleb's heart. "While the boys own chakra is fighting back on other fronts, I am helping in the most important section; the heart. Using my own chakra, I push the foreign, dark chakra back, if the heart would be reached, it would not be able to survive and simply stop beating."

Shizune, joining Tsunade with glowing hands, placed hers at Caleb's head. "Meanwhile, Shizune is doing the same thing with his brain, protecting it from any harm. Unfortunately the brain was already partly affected by the seal, but only lightly so there may be only few changes, none if we are lucky."

Sakura, watching with wide eyes, glanced short at the white eyes person next to him, a Hyuuga obviously, at times like this a Hyuuga was invaluable, as they were able to directly see the chakra.

"The dark chakra is starting to back down, Tsunade-sama." stated the lavender eyed man, his pupils looking closely at the body of the young man.

"Thank you, Hyuuga-san." Tsunade nodded and continued to embrace the heart of the boy with her own chakra, after five minutes she started to move her hands slowly towards the seal.

"Now, alongside with his own chakra, I will lock drive the rest of the foreign chakra off from his system and then we will make sure that his chakra coils have developed safely. Shizune, can you continue?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama, I still have reserves."

"That's good to hear." said Tsunade, smiling in anticipation. "Now we begin the fun part."

She started to form some hand seals and her hands started to glow orange, then she pressed them against Caleb's mouth, forcing her own chakra through his throat, making it sure in reached every part of his body.

Shizune, paying attention that the blood pressure and heart beat of the patient were alright, was slowly reaching the limit of her own chakra reserves. This operation had lasted three hours and it had taken an incredible amount of chakra and a great deal of work. Once again she was amazed by the display and the medical level of Tsunade-sama, nobody else could have ensured that this boy would make it through but she had saved him from certain death. She had truly realized a miracle.

"He will make it, thanks to you Tsunade-sama." said Shizune while wiping the sweat of her face with her sleeve.

"This brat has got some willpower to survive this long." complimented Tsunade, relaxing, making room for other healers to take care of the following procedure of putting the boy in a deep sleep.

The Hokage, followed by her assistant Shizune and her apprentice Sakura, stepped out to others. Times like these made it worth of being a doctor, despite losing sometimes patients to death, the faces of the relatives and friends of the patients, looking at her after having saved the life of the patient, the gratefulness, the appreciation, the knowledge of one less family, friendship or love being destroyed.

Will, smiling genuinely, wiped away a few tears before she bowed in a Japanese manner.

"Th…thanks, Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade, returning the smile, brushed it off with one hand. "It is my duty as a doctor to do that."

She started walking towards the exit of the Hospital, while giving her orders. "Sakura, you stay there and help in any matter you can, treat his minor injuries, he seems to have been recently wounded in the stomach."

"Yes; Tsunade-sama." Bowed Sakura, leaving, disappointed that she couldn't question them.

"Shizune, you go to the other girl, check her condition and report to me immediately, I will be out here."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." The young woman took of to another direction, leaving Matt and the Guardians alone with Tsunade.

The elderly woman, though looking like someone in her twenties, walked instantly in the next bar, followed by the group, only to find an Yan Lin already sitting there, with two cups of sake in front of her.

Tsunade, grinning widely sat down in front of her and drank the cup with one gulp.

"Puh, how would you know, Yanny?"

"As if I wouldn't know you after such a long time, my old friend. You always had this affinity to Sake."

"Nothing wrong with that." grumbled Tsunade while emptying the second cup. Meanwhile, Matt and the others watched uneasily how the Leader of this Ninja Village became tipsy in front of them.

"Until now I thought she was some incredible and respected leader and doctor at the same time, now I realize she is just an alcoholic." murmured Irma to Matt, who chuckled silently.

"You know, up till now, nothing will surprise me anymore, so one drinking, amazing healer who is a chief as well is not that surprising."

"Yeah, but it is quite disturbing, and do you realize that she's known Mrs. Lin for over forty years, but she looks like in her late twenties."

"Why are you brats talking like that?" said Tsunade suddenly. "Don't think I can't hear you, the youth has really lost respect."

"Don't be so harsh on them." tried the former Air Guardian to back up the blushing teens. After a few minutes of harmless conversation, Shizune entered the bar, giving Tsunade a disapproving look, before approaching.

"You know you shouldn't drink like this, Tsunade-sama. You are Hokage now."

"Yeah, yeah, what is the situation of the girl?" Tsunade placed the cup back on the table, and looked at Shizune's scolding face. Most of the time it was her who was the more mature one.

"She is awake."

"Can we see her?" Came Will's voice, immediately standing next to the woman.

Shizune nodded approvingly. "Yes, you can, she didn't suffer from any serious injuries, a few damaged ribs and major exhaustion, but she will be fit in a day, but the seal will remain."

"Shizune will guide you to her; I will stay here with Yanny."

The group nodded, thanked and left the bar, glad that they didn't have to see the major drinking anymore.

After they were gone, Tsunade took a great sip of the sake cup and turned her attention back to Yan Lin.

"You agree with me here, don't you?"

Yan Lin didn't react but looked straight into her eyes.

"Certainly, but that doesn't mean I like it much."

The Hokage chuckled dryly. "I didn't expect that, but still, it needs to be done."

"You have your way of disregarding other people's opinions." smiled Yan Lin gently.

"You may be right about that, but on the other hand, I am the Hokage, I have to do that."

"It's nothing which had developed recently, you were always that way."

"You talk too much, just like back then, when you five came here to end the second great ninja war."

"It was one of our more difficult tasks."

"Yet, you five made a clear impact, since the first great Shinobi war was also ended by the Guardians of Kandrakar. They even named the five countries in their honour, and you five appeared suddenly on the fiercest battlefields and interrupted the battles." She paused for a moment, clinging on nostalgic thoughts.

"You saved my cell that time, I remember it clearly; we were surrounded by many rock ninjas. We couldn't escape, we were too tired and too injured and then you appeared, with your strange clothing and wings and created such a strong storm, every wind user would envy.

Then you went ahead, disabling some Leaf ninjas, you five were on your own side."

"War is something that we have to prevent, after the main battles, we had a few weeks to have the whole negotiations, they were sure a pain, the Kazekage and the Tsuchikage were especially stubborn."

"Still, you have managed a miracle I dare to say."

Yan Lin laughed weakly. "Yes but not thanks to our diplomatic skills but to Cassidy's ability of influencing other peoples minds."

"I can see how that can be useful. Wish I had that, could help me convincing Shizune to bring me Sake." Said Tsunade wishfully, having a short daydream, sitting in her comfortable chair, looking out of the window and enjoying her drinks.

"Well, anyways, you have to sort things out now."

"I guess we gave them enough time to talk, so let us join them. You already paid the bill?"

"No, you are the Leader so I thought you would invite an old friend."

Tsunade cursed mildly while putting a few coins on the table, following a laughing Yan Lin out, why did she always have to have the last word?

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"You killed him." came the scolding voice of Nerissa, looking angrily at Sasuke who was standing next to another habitant of the Zoan planet.

"Yet I told you to leave him alive, I hate disobedience."

"He is alive, mistress." corrected Sasuke, wiping the blood of his sword. "He is only not able to speak anymore."

"You fool, if he can't give us any information he is as useful as a corpse." raged Nerissa, hitting Sasuke with a weak lighting bolt, smashing him against a tree.

Then her staff stopped at one image, revealing the Heart of Zoan, it was an animal resembling mostly a stag who could run on two legs but who had the upper arms of a monkey.

Nerissa smiled, "It seems we have found him, the object is exactly two hundred kilometres away."

Sasuke, already standing again, looked questioningly at Nerissa. "How do we get there, walking would take too long."

"I am pretty sure that we will find some…kind people…who will give us some help. Whether they like it or not." She looked up at the sky, seeing flying creatures and smiled.

"Go and capture one flying animal, but he should be able to fly, so you better be careful…"

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Elyon, awake again, saw the door of her room open and the girls and Matt stepped in. Grinning lightly she hugged them quickly and answered the routine questions about her health until, so she decided, it was time to come to the point.

"So, how is the situation?"

"Well, you might not like it." started Taranee uneasily.

"That is sure an underestimation, you will totally hate It." interrupted Irma, sitting down and the end of the bed.

"Okay, Irma is right, there is no good news. We lost the castle, you lost most of your powers, we are hiding somewhere in the Infinite City and Caleb just escaped death and we realized that the ninjas can give us a good beating."

"Wow, really not that good."

"You can say that again." complained Matt, sitting on the base of the window. "I took the beating of my life from this Sasuke guy."

"He really whipped the floor with you, didn't he?" asked Irma, her lips twitching suspiciously.

"He pierced me with his right buzzing hand, but before that I gave him a run for his money."

The statement was followed by a short moment of silence before Elyon continued speaking.

"So, what are the plans you have thought off?"

Will, brushing with one hand though her fierce red hair, sighed uncomfortably.

"Well, we don't have many possibilities, so I thought we should search for this guy who can unlock your seal. Then we can return and look after the situation."

"I disagree." said Elyon, swinging her legs off of the bed. "You guys shouldn't waste your time here."

"Well you do need some protection while you are here." reasoned Taranee.

"But so does Meridian, I think the Guardians are better off protecting the world rather then its Queen. Besides, I am not completely helpless, I will search for this guy on my own here, and you deal with Phobos for a while. Once I get my full powers back I will join you and imprison my brother again."

Irma, Will and Taranee exchanged glances before answering. "You do realize that you are in a world full of ninjas, the same ninjas that kicked us around. Now you are here with limited powers you would be easy prey."

"That's exactly why she will have some protection." Came the voice of Tsunade from the door, as she entered together with Yan Lin. Shizune, who was standing near the door the whole time, took her place right behind the Hokage.

"It pleases me that the Queen has come to the same conclusion as us."

"You think so as well, Grandma Lin?" asked Will doubtingly.

"Indeed, the Guardians are protectors of worlds after all, not someone's bodyguards. I know this decision might be hard for you, but letting someone deal with their problem, when they wish it on their own, is not betrayal."

"What do you mean by protection by the way?" Irma was eying the well endowed woman with some respect. As there were not many people who could make a cool entrance like that, bursting into the door and shouting orders.

"I will give Queen Elyon a guard of three chunin who will accompany and help her in finding Jiraya, the one who can unseal it."

"Will she be okay with this?" asked Will, still not sure about this situation, but became a bit scarred when a vain appeared on Tsunade's forehead.

"Otherwise I would have sent more, wouldn't I, but to ensure it you will accompany them as well." She said while pointing at Matt, who was startled by the sudden attention.

"Huh?"

"Any objections?" asked Tsunade having the dangerous look of a woman who was seriously annoyed by the situation and promised a certain, painful death if anyone dared to oppose her.

"Ye…no, of course not, a wonderful idea." tried Matt to save the situation, something that was being supported by the nods of the girls, and letting Yan Lin chuckle silently in the background.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Takato and the two other ninjas were currently engaged in a fierce battle with Frost, Cedric and Miranda while being watched by the audience, who, beside Orochimaru, were rather enjoying this showdown.

One by one, the superiority of the Ninjas began to show, but the artefacts and their supernatural abilities closed the gap between the combatants.

Cedric, in his Naga form, was nearly immune too all hand to hand combat attacks, unless a huge amount of force was used, which was something neither of them possessed. Also snakes were famous for their fast attacks so it was not difficult for him to hit them with his dangerous claws or his devastating tail.

Miranda, being a giant spider herself, used her webs to pin the enemies down, holding them on the spot, leaving them open for the attacks of Frost and Cedric. Even though they might not seem like it, team work was as important for Phobos' minions as it was for anybody else.

Frost, now using his even more enhanced strength, was now strong enough to split the stone ground of the throne room.

So, it was only natural that the three insulted ninjas were trying their best to avoid getting caught in one of Miranda's webs, as it would be their last time to experience something like that.

Even though they were more agile then the two shape shifters and the meta human, they lost in terms of power and endurance, the fact that Phobos was looking at them like every day prey didn't help either.

"As I thought, those three are nothing more than, what was the term they used at earth… cannon fodder. Yes, that was it."

"You are underestimating them, Phobos-kun, they have not been all out yet." responded Orochimaru, while slightly glaring at his struggling underlings.

"And you think Cedric was?" asked Phobos, smiling slyly. "Enough of this farce; bring it to an end, Lord Cedric."

Cedric smiled, as he shot forwards in a surprising speed and raked with his claws through the flesh of the ninja right in front of him and finished him off with a mighty hit with his tail.

Miranda, binding Takato with her sticking spider web, jumped and exposed two clenched teeth from her mouth and buried her fangs deep into the shoulder of the ninja, letting endless venom fill his system.

He tasted good, if she was lucky, Phobos would let her devour him, she hadn't got a nice meal in ages.

Frost hit his opponent with a roundhouse kick and sent him flying hard against a wall and before he could recover, the hunter threw his club at him, using more than enough force to achieve his goal, and smashing the head of his enemy.

Phobos top three warriors had proven themselves once again to their prince.

"Did you really think that some… trash… like that could take on my warriors, who had experienced fighting for more then two decades? Cedric is one of the more powerful shape shifters, as is Miranda and Frost is a one of a kind born Guard, who posses more strength, then the biggest animals, underestimating them would be a fatal mistake, as your servants have proven."

Orochimaru gulped and prepared himself for an assault of the prince, but for some reason it didn't happen.

"You fear me, don't you Orochimaru, you are scarred of my mere presence." taunted the restored prince, that the members of Phobos army were laughing viciously didn't help in the slightest.

On his world he was one of the most feared opponents, here he was the laughing number of a spoiled prince and his brainless subordinates.

"You may relax; I do not intend to punish you…yet. Your existence is simply too amusing to end it now and I have the feeling you will be useful but please, do not take me for a fool. I know when someone is scheming against me. After Cedric succeeded..." He glared shortly at Cedric, reminding him that he was not completely forgiven yet.

"I am a lot more suspicious now, so the second we obtain an artefact which allows us to fold, you will bring some real reinforcements."

"Certainly." responded Orochimaru. He was itching to attack the prince now, but he knew he had to wait a little longer…

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"You got to be kidding me, how the hell did you get Gargoyle in the Infinite City?" asked Cornelia incredulously, wondering how a Giant like Gargoyle could enter an underground city without breaking a few walls.

Aldarn, grinning exactly like someone who just won the international championship in something difficult while he leaned pleased against Gargoyle's feet.

"Well it wasn't easy, but you know, I have, like, some tricks up my sleeve." Hay Lin was watching Aldarn try to chat with Cornelia for the fourth time this week, and was still using the word "like" way too much to be slang and was beyond amusing. Since they met Aldarn, he tried to adopt the "Earth speaking" as he called it; yet he failed miserably.

Hay Lin wasn't exactly sure what Caleb had told him but it seemed that he had been a bit out of the loop, so far that he couldn't even see the loop.

Vathek, appearing behind the huge giant, looked sulky as ever. Hay Lin only remembered him looking happy once, and popped Aldarn's bubble of awesomeness.

"There is a gigantic entrance in the north of the waterfalls. I led him there."

Aldarn, while glaring at Vathek, uncomfortably cleared his throat before trying something else.

"You know, like, this is one of the hardships of life, dude."

The Air Guardian, while sitting next to Hinata, slapped her forehead; Caleb was certainly a bad teacher if it came to Earth cultures.

"You do know, "dude" is a way to refer to GUYS, something which I certainly don't resemble." said Cornelia dryly, while turning off to Julian, who was nervous from the lack of action.

"Come on, Hinata." said the cheery Guardian. "Let's get some exploring done, until we have to face evil again."

"Y…yes Hay Lin-sama." Of the last forty minutes, Hay Lin had spent thirty nine of them trying to convince Hinata not to call her sama, but apparently she failed.

"Come on, we're friends. We don't need to address each other with such formalities, but right now you look awfully cute, with your finger pointing." She gave her a quick, surprising hug, and released Hinata only a second later, while walking away humming a strange and extremely annoying melody.

"That girl has more energy than Naruto." Shikamaru said looking disturbed as he shifted to his other site, to finally get a nice, relaxing nap; he hadn't had one of those recently, what with everything going as bad as it could.

Neji, finally awake now, had taken the command again, as he was a higher ranking as a Jonin, thus finally taking that burden off Shikamaru's shoulders, it seemed that the gods had finally given him the rest he deserved.

"Hey Shikamaru, get you lazy bum over here, we have things to do." Ino's screeching voice was like a huge bomb, detonating in a peaceful neighbourhood, and was extremely unwelcome.

The gods didn't give in after all.

"What do you want now?"

"What do you think, we can't slack off the whole day, while we have two Guardians here, and you could start their training."

"Why me? Earth and Air are not my specialities; Hinata was going to take the Air girl anyways."

"That leaves Cornelia."

"Aren't you all chummy with her? Do it yourself."

"How the hell should I know any earth related techniques?"

"Well, how should I know any earth related techniques?"

"You know at least the basics."

"So do you." Shikamaru was seriously not in the mood to continue this senseless, unnecessary argument. "Look, just go tell Neji, alright. I am sure he is way better at this. Or give her a crash course in dodging and avoiding, you did have the training with the fifth."

"I guess, yeah that'll be just fine." She departed to search Cornelia but she added one last thing. "You can teach her afterwards."

_Damn._

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With forceful clapping of its wings, the monstrous, birdlike creature soared through the sky, with the steady direction being south, and avoided the other habitants of the sky. Sasuke, the one "steering" him, tried to maintain the direction with the rein, self made an hour ago, and an acceptable speed, so that Nerissa, who sat right behind him, wouldn't fall off, having neither the energy nor the reflexes to prevent that herself.

"We should be there around an hour." Yelled the young Uchiha, giving his best effort to be heard, as the sound of the wind was most disrupting.

"I see, good job, my dear boy, you certainly are worth being my subordinate."

"You honour me, mistress."

Nerissa smiled cruelly, that boy, a ninja of the higher class, obeyed her completely, no free will, no freedom. He was just her slave, her tool of destruction.

And he was pretty handsome, so all the more reason to keep him, if she only were fifty years younger…

But right now she had to concentrate on getting the next heart; this was certainly not an enemy they could defeat, still, if the situation should change into a fight, Sasuke would hold him up long enough to let her escape through a fold. This would mean leaving Sasuke behind, but sacrifices had to be done in order to achieve her goal; Peace in the universe, her universe.

The bird meanwhile, another strange cross, was looking like a failed experiment between a penguin and a falcon, so it was one of the more …acceptable…looking natives of this world.

It helped that this guy could talk. Unfortunately, Sasuke didn't understand a word, and how Nerissa could understand something from the squealing noises was beyond his comprehension.

Right now, he "said" another thing, yet the meaning was unclear.

"He said something." reported Sasuke, angry that he couldn't understand. "What's he saying?"

Before Nerissa could answer, the bird started slowly to sink, and within seconds they had fallen two hundred meters, continuously nearing the ground.

"Okay, I guess he said he couldn't fly anymore." Mumbled the avenger, while activating his Sharingan and furiously thinking of a way to survive this.

"Good grief, if you want to have something done…"

Nerissa, forcing a bit electricity through the body of the bird, was concentrating and did something, which acquired a control over electricity, a normal ninja could never hope to imitate.

By using the electrical current, she stimulated and controlled the muscles of the native's body, letting him fly long enough, to land safely.

Sasuke's face was white, not because of fearing to be smashed by a fall but through the unbelievable display of energy control. He knew, he had an affinity for lightning but at the same time, he knew he could never pull off the same stunt.

This control was even more difficult then any medical jutsu, having tried some of them under the supervision of Kabuto, who had kindly told he that he sucked, really, truly sucked at medical jutsu and the needed chakra precision.

Sasuke, not really interested in medical jutsu anyway, had dropped it to learn some elemental techniques but now, seeing the use of such a fine control, he started to change his mind.

"We will rest a bit, so that our 'ride'" Nerissa chuckled when she used this word. "Can recover."

"So, do you have a plan?"

"Indeed."

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"Lady Hokage told us he would be here in twenty minutes."

"We know." Will was sitting in the grass, poking the ground with a stick, looking slightly bored. "It has been nearly two hours now."

"We know." Irma was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. As the Water Guardian was in the land of her dreams, she was the female counterpart of the new Vance Michael Justin band, with the members being limited to VMJ and herself.

"So when will he have the decency to show up?" raged Taranee, unlike the normally calm and timid girl. It was one thing for a girl of her age, namely Will, coming too late, but an adult, and a ninja nonetheless, coming TWO HOURS too late was simply ridiculous.

"Perhaps he has some super urgent ninja business to deal with?" suggested Matt, also lying in the grass, gazing at the sky and the white clouds.

"Somehow I really doubt that." reasoned Will, "The Leader of this Village told him to come here, so she wouldn't have given him another job."

Matt, having no interest in this subject, turned his attention back to the clouds. He was going to stay here, and accompany Elyon on her trip to get her powers back alongside three other ninja.

Right now he was trying to figure out if this was a bad thing or not, did they trust him with this job because they had faith in his abilities or was it that they thought he couldn't mess anything up on a trip being surrounded by Shinobi and Elyon?

Yan Lin was sitting next to Matt, and seemed to have read his mind.

"It is a great responsibility to guard the Queen on such a dangerous planet."

"I know." said Matt thankfully, the doubts being nearly completely washed away.

"So." started Will uneasily. "I hope you will be alright. So be carefully, okay?"

"Of course mom." joked Matt, "But I will not promise to change my clothes every day."

"Pig," smiled Will, before pulling him into a hug. Yan Lin, while smiling at this display of affection, stood up to walk to Taranee and was startled to see Kakashi there.

"My, my, it is a good thing that we didn't leave you two alone."

"What the he…" Will and Matt jumped up being completely caught off guard by his sudden presence.

"When did you get here?" asked Taranee incredulously.

Instead of answering, or having the decency to looking ashamed, he simply waved with his left hand, as his right was holding that funny book of his, the title being Make Out Paradise Volume 2, now that she could read it, and greeted them with a simple "Yo."

"Yo, yourself, where were you this whole time?" asked Will, fighting the blush off her face.

"Sorry, sorry, you see, I was just coming here, and then I suddenly saw a baby bird, so I had to search for his nest."

Not one of the attending people believed him, and showed this clearly by glaring at him.

"Anyway we should get going." advised Kakashi sagely. "Or we will be late and this would be highly irresponsible of you."

Will and Taranee exchanged glances of disbelief, how did he dare to say something like this after being two hours late with no reason.

Will, having neither the nerve nor the time to argue anymore on this matter sighed and opened a fold.

"Well I guess its good bye for now." said Will, placing a kiss on Matt's cheek before slowly stepping through the portal.

Taranee, having just waked Irma, nodded at Matt while pushing the blinking and yawning Water Guardian through the portal before vanishing through it herself.

Kakashi bowed one last time respectfully to Yan Lin, and disappeared as well, leaving Matt and Yan Lin alone at the place, widely known as Training Ground Number Five.

"Elyon will sleep through the day; you might want to have a look around." Advised the old woman.

"Are you joining me, Mrs Lin?"

"I am too old to wander around the village, I guess it is best for me to go back to the Hokage's, but you should take a tour. Konoha is a really interesting village."

Matt nodded. "I think I will just do that, any place you would advise?"

The old woman started to walk away, shaking her head. "Perhaps the Academy would be worth a look."

Ten minutes later, he was already walking through the village, admiring the calm, nostalgic, yet in some ways modern environment. The streets were crowded, endless people walking around, minding their own business, countless shops, restaurants and bars everywhere, and from time to time, you would see a few ninja patrolling through the city, or when they were younger, doing some chores.

He walked past a Ramen restaurant, wondering if they were actually as good as the Ramen of the Silver Dragon. He saw two adult Shinobi sitting there, one of them a pretty woman the other a bearded man, who was smoking at the same time, and apparently just was scolded because of this.

He continued his little trip until he passed the Academy, seeing three children with forehead protectors in front of a man, who was wearing glasses, a black-dark blue bandana and the green vest, most Shinobi seemed to wear.

From what Matt could see he was yelling at the boy in the middle, the one wearing a long blue looking scarf, still the young regent could tell from here that the boy didn't look intimidated at all.

He looked stubborn and yelled something back, before forming with two fingers of each hand a strange cross and yelled some thing again. It was something with Shadow and the next moment, Matt knew, it was that freakish doppelganger technique that Kakashi used, it seemed that it was more common than he thought.

The next second he yelled again and both, the boy and his clone were engulfed in white smoke, Matt thought he said something abut Knockout and instead of the boys, there were two, obviously nude, pretty woman, in a very suggestive embrace.

While this was indeed a knockout for the teacher, who for some reason fell back with a major nosebleed, for Matt it had not quite that effect.

True, that was a really…interesting to say at least…technique, for Matt, to see two nude woman hugging, it was not completely new, as he was a boy from the twenty-first century and more importantly someone with an internet connection, there was little he didn't see, intentionally or not.

Shaking his head, he decided to continue walking as he was sure Mrs. Lin didn't mean this when she said that the academy would be worth checking out…or did she?

He continued wandering for a few hours, going everywhere in the village, until he arrived at the river, wonderful green grass, the sun mirroring in the silent water so he decided to lay down a bit and enjoy the peace; he was more than sure that this would be one of very few moments of calmness.

The peace was interrupted after twenty minutes when a group of three arrived, everyone, two girls and one boy, all of them at least twenty.

To his surprise they settled down not far from him, only twenty meters to his right, and started packing out some stuff, three guitars were under those belongings.

Soon enough they started playing, and Matt, not having much time for rehearsing lately, enjoyed the tunes of a live guitar, even though it was not played very well.

Deciding that talking to them was a way better solution to kill some time, he went over to them. After waiting for another ten minutes to give them some time at first.

"You guys are not bad." He greeted them, smiling, while searching his pockets for his plectrum.

"Thanks, you understand something about this?" asked the short, black haired girl.

"We have to play tomorrow; our sensei forced us to do this."

"It seems he just wants to brag to the other jonin, especially Kurenai-sensei, that idiot." Complained the boy with glasses as he started to play again, making some horrible tones.

"Don't talk like that, I find it sweet of him, wanting to impress Kurenai-sensei by music." said the last girl with long brown hair.

"Yeah, if he wanted to impress someone he should at least play for them himself. Also, only an idiot would not see that this woman is obviously aligned to Asuma."

"Like you are the one to talk." snorted the black haired girl. "You tried to hook up with that one girl for ages and every time you get turned down."

"What is this, an interrogation? I am not the centre of this conversation, these damned guitars are, and the fact that we can't play them to save our lives."

"Can I have a try?" asked Matt while sitting down and having found his plectrum.

"Sure thing, it's not like you could play worse then me." sighed the boy and handed him his guitar.

Matt tried some tunes to adjust it, after that he looked up again. "These are some fine instruments. Where I come from, these are antiquities."

"Where do you come from, the future?" laughed the brown haired girl.

"Close enough." With this he started to play, getting lost in his own music, he had really missed music.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Please tell me you have found the entrance."

"Unfortunately not." Ryu was looking extremely annoyed. "And on top of that Shinichi lost the map of this place."

"Please tell me, why did you give him the map?"

"You know I can't read a map."

"Or anything else for that matter." snickered Shinta, yet Ryu chose to ignore him. He could get him later anyways.

"Anyways, why are you complaining, like that map helped us, this entrance doesn't exist, simple as that. We got false information."

"Kabuto said that there is a caved in entrance, so there IS an entrance, you maggots are simply too stupid to find it."

"So why aren't you finding it?"

"I am the leader, when I tell you to find something; you better do it, before I choose to use your organs for target practice with my kunai."

"Gee, why can't I serve under a sweet girl instead of a hag like you?"

"Do not despair, my faithful companions, I, Shinichi Hikaru, have found the solution to all our problems."

"What, do you intend to run around and ask people where this secret passage is?"

"I have two solutions…" but before he could continue, Ryu already had started to shoot arrows, which were deflected by a wall of smoke, the right arm of Tomoko had completely turned into smoke and let out enough of it to protect her friend.

"Ryu, we talked about this. No attacking our team members, remember?"

The nineteen year old snarled dangerously before putting his arrows back, but he stayed quite, allowing their not so bright team mate to continue.

"Seeing that we can't find a place which looks even close to the place we have sought, I can only suggest that we are either in the wrong place, or the inhabitants of this village have hidden it."

"Wow, that was completely non stupid." said Shinta, impressed with this rare moment of brilliance. "It was even helpful."

"So only thing left to do, is that we burn this village to the ground, or we find a citizen and "convince" him or her, to tell us the exact location."

"How the hell did you figured out such a plan and why didn't you speak like always?" asked Ryu incredulously, not sure if he should be angry or happy that Shinichi wasn't an idiot all the time.

"I have not only trained my body, but my mind as well, to reach the level of divine swordsmanship I have now. Levels that the other mere mortals have yet to discover, as I Shinichi Hikaru, have claimed the title of the best swordfighter in existence."

"I think he deserved saying that, after pointing out what we have to do." said Tomoko uneasily.

"Easy for you to say." growled the bowman." After all, the one teamed up with him is always me."

"So, let's find a citizen." Shinta was already to search. "Leave it to me to find one; my abilities are the best to do so."

"Fine for me."

"We shall entrust this important task upon you, my young friend. I know that you will succeed as you have been trained by me."

"Certainly." nodded Shinta, before vanishing from sight with usual Body Flicker Technique.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Matt finished the last song and placed the guitar next to him, as he looked into the enthusiastic faces of the three older Shinobi.

"Damn, you are good, even better then this guy giving the guitar courses." The boy with the glasses, Daisuke, was apparently really impressed.

"Thanks, I do play lead guitar in my band."

"You have a band?" asked the brown haired girl, whose name was Naomi. "Well, you play well enough for one anyway, so I shouldn't be surprised."

"That was some beautiful music there, what was the name of the last song?"

"Oh it was "The will to love" I wrote it for my girlfriend."

"You can write songs?" asked Daisuke. "You got to help us tomorrow with this playing thing. I bet you can sing too, right?" Matt only nodded. "So you can pull off some playing, while the three of us pretend to play, and we are all happy."

"I am not happy. And I'm not sure if I have the time, Lady Hokage appointed me to a mission which will begin tomorrow."

"Are you a ninja?" Manami, the third member of trio, was doubtful as Matt didn't seem to wear a forehead protector. 

"Not really." Matt was not sure how much he was allowed to say, nobody had told him how much he could reveal so he decided to play safe.

"I am more of a, ähm, reserve, yeah reserve."

"So you can fight?"

"Of course." Said Matt impulsively and regretted it immediately after seeing the glint of joy in Daisuke's face.

"Then let's spar a round."

"I shouldn't exhaust my self the night before a mission." He laughed weakly.

"We won't use any chakra, just good ol' hand to hand combat." He was already on his feet, looking impatient.

Matt didn't want to fight, but he didn't want to back down either, well, he had to check his non transformed combat skills against a ninja sometime, so why not now?

"If I have too." Matt was up and looked unsure at Daisuke.

"Well, I guess you start, you challenged me after all."

The chunin smirked slightly, causing the girls of his team to exchange worrying glances.

"Right you are."

With that, the young man charged at Matt, who took the first blow with his left arm, but before he could react he was swiped of his feet by a swift leg attack.

"You sure are weak, any normal Shinobi should have been able to avoid this attack." complained Daisuke, disappointed at his opponents lack of skill.

"I never said I was the best fighter in the universe." said Matt sourly, standing up again, and massaging the place at his left arm with which he took the first strike.

"Too true, well I will attack again." With that Daisuke started another charge and even though Matt faired a bit longer, the result was the same, an embarrassing defeat. Making Matt remember the training with Caleb, and where the rebel leader had beaten him without really trying.

"You aren't really strong, are you?" Daisuke was really unhappy with his opponent.

"Sorry, but I am not much of a hand to hand fighter." Matt apologized but inside he was partly boiling with anger, why was he so weak?

"Well I'll be leaving then." Said Matt, wincing a last time before wandering away, lost in his thoughts of his skill level.

"Good job Daisuke, give our only hope of not embarrassing us tomorrow a humiliating defeat, so that he would go away." scolded Naomi.

And while the team started to bicker again, on the branches of a tree, not far from the place, a young man of sixteen, with a bowl cut, thick eyebrows, a green vest, orange leg warmers and a green jumpsuit was looking disappointed and confused at the scene.

_And this guy fought Uchiha Sasuke nearly to a tie?_

tbc

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Well, not much fighting in this chapter, but I will make it up in the next, I dare to say it will be pretty eventful.


	10. The Barrier

Thank you everyone for reading this attempt of a story, I hope you are enjoying it.

Special thanks to Guardian's Light, who was kind enough to proofread this chapter, I dare to say that you will enjoy a chapter with less mistakes then usual. So check out his stories sometime, Tsunami and The Guardians: Beginnings, they are worth reading.

Sasha: Thank you for you kind words and yes, the Guardians are not through meeting all the Ninjas I planned to use.

Spiritwolf: I am really happy that you enjoy this story so much, even though there won't be any blood relation of Naruto to the Guardians, but don't worry, Naruto, as soon as he is introduced, will have a rather interesting time.

The Crazy Talk Kid: I'm glad you liked the fight and I hope you will like the ones in this chapter too, as well as the other not-fight related themes. tbc means to be continued and thank you again for your reviews.

Sasuke9031: Thank you very much for your kind words and your tips on Sasuke and Nerissa, I really appreciate help and we will hear a lot more of Kakashi.

Alexis kiah: Yes, learning to never make Tsunade mad is truly an important lesson, it can lead to a lot more then broken bones. With time, we will learn more of the connection of the Guardians to Naruto's world.

Guardian's Light: You can say that again, as it will be seen in this chapter, I am glad you are enjoying this story.

Let's just continue with the next chapter, I do hope you will enjoy it, so bear with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could if I tried.

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Everybody reaches a point where he has to decide, whether to stand firm or to run away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rock Lee, hard working hand to hand combat specialist and chunin of Konoha, was in a dilemma; the meeting with Tsunade and his two companions who would accompany him on the following mission was finished half an hour ago.

They got a detailed report over the happenings in the last week and he was happy to hear, that his rival and friend, Neji, and the others were faring well. The Guardians, even though he hadn't met one, seemed rather interesting after having heard stories about them in the ninja academy.

He never spent much thought on them. He was someone who had trouble keeping up with his peers, so he never had the time.

Yet, when he heard that this Matt guy, one of the three Regents of Earth the protectors of the Heart of their world, had fought Uchiha Sasuke, another one of his rivals, on equal ground, that must mean he would be fairly strong.

According to Choji, who had seen more of the fight then he let Matt know, this guy was close to defeating the Uchiha, if Sasuke, for some reason, hadn't pulled himself together which would be thanks to this Nerissa's magic.

So to see that he lost to a guy like Daisuke, Lee didn't dislike Daisuke but having sparred with him once gave him enough insight to say that he was not one of the top chunin. He belonged to a squad not strong enough to engage in combat, thus leaving them missions like really easy reconnaissance or shielding civilians in the less dangerous areas, was more than a shock.

He knew that Matt didn't transform into his other state, but could there be such a big difference? Transformations only enhanced the users' strength; surely they didn't endow the user with that much power.

Lee was curious. He really wanted to see how he faired against this boy, who had fought on several planets and yet seemed far too weak.

The only logical explanation was that he had held back against the older boy, not wanting to embarrass him.

Even though Lee could understand his point of view, he wasn't content with it. Rock Lee didn't believe in holding back, no matter who the opponent was. It was a fighter's duty to go all out and to fight everyone with his best, and to honour the opponent and acknowledge him as an equal.

Holding back meant disrespecting the opponent, and not acknowledging his training and efforts, or more simply thinking you were better than the other.

He couldn't stand that, as a prime example of someone who was in his springtime of youth, it was his duty to teach him the correct way; this was exactly what Gai-sensei would have wanted.

Also he could see how he was compared to Sasuke, who seemed to be on a similar level like this Matt. Yes, this surely seemed like a challenge and a noble task for him.

A smile appeared on his face, when was the last time he had a good fight? Surely it must have been ages, since Neji didn't have the time anymore and Tenten was having missions too, even though they were mostly in the same teams and had the same duties.

Gai-sensei, even though he was not their official teacher anymore, was still treated as such and even Neji and Tenten, who often grew tired and impatient of his "youthful" antics, respected him more than they showed. He was the one who had raised them to be exceptional shinobi after all.

So with a great leap he jumped from the branch and smiled while he was feeling the resistance of the wind before landing on other another tree branch that was roughly twenty meters away from the last one.

He would surely enjoy this little fight…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So there are four lunatics with incredible powers out there?" summarized Will weakly, really having enough of the bad news. Right after they returned, Drake and Tyner arrived, with Sandpit and several injured Rebels and brought a depressing mood and even more depressing intelligence.

"Sandpit tried to smash her and she turned into smoke, her body was not the one of a human." Tynar, the first converted guard, was beyond shocked. Never had they seen such a sight.

"At one point She was standing with only half a head and still speaking." Drake, looking more angry then shocked was wondering around restlessly.

"The other three were quite strong as well. There was this annoying guy who was skilled with the sword and talked almost the whole time in the third person and the other one had an even better aim with the bow than Aldarn."

Aldarn, who had won the Meridian marksmanship prize a few times in a row, looked concerned. Not because there was someone better then him, but because he was on the enemies side.

"And the fourth?" asked Will, fearing the response.

"Actually, he didn't do much; at the beginning of the fight he separated into several parrots and was not seen until the end."

"Parrots?" asked Irma, raising an eyebrow. "Bugs? Snakes? What comes next, using frogs and

Slugs?"

"Actually…" started Choji but was stopped by Shikamaru, who was more interested in the fight than explaining ninja tools and animals to the Guardians.

"This was most likely an illusion, a Genjutsu. So there is the possibility that the ability of the woman was part of it too."

Even though he didn't say it, most of the attending people realized he was going to add "even though I doubt it."

"So, we go out and search for them or what?" asked Irma, who was itching to have some action the last few days she had had very little to do and now she wanted to accomplish something.

"Without a plan?" Taranee didn't like this idea. Encountering such enemies was surely not the best way to spend an afternoon.

"We've got a plan," Hay Lin said to back up her best friend up. "We go and give them a good, old trashing."

"That's surprisingly simple." snorted Cornelia." How about a more… appealing… plan?"

"What would you advise?" Will asked Kakashi, even though Will had a certain, and rather recent dislike against the older ninja. She could not shrug off his experience of dealing with ninja.

Yet, his presence was already testing her patience as he didn't seem to listen. He was just reading his funny book.

"Huh?" Kakashi shifted his attention towards Will while looking surprised. "Sorry, did you say something?"

What was wrong with this guy? He should be the more responsible one around here, and not the most idiotic.

"I asked what your advice would be?" repeated Will through her clenched teeth.

Kakashi played with the thought of annoying her even more, but after seeing the disagreeing look on the face of his subordinates. He decided against it.

"We should make several teams and search for them in that village. Once a team has found them, they engage loudly, so shortly after that the others will arrive, and we will have at least the advantage in numbers but I can say that with me there, there will be very little to worry about."

Will and Cornelia snorted at the same time, and even Taranee looked doubtful while Irma displayed her opinion quite often.

"'Cause you will ignore them to death or will you read them out of your book until they run away?"

Most of the listeners laughed, it was not happening often that somebody was attacking Kakashi with wits and sarcasm.

"Well, I can certainly be of some assistance since only the strongest of the Shinobi Orochimaru has are at my level, so I don't think he will send his best troops so early."

He turned to Shikamaru, while sighing in relief that the Water Guardian hadn't leashed out again.

"I guess you already have formed the teams."

Shikamaru nodded in approve and took out a paper and a pen. "Well, basically we will move with four teams, each one searching a specific area in the village. Team One will be formed by Ino, Neji and Shino, with Neji, obviously, as the leader."

Ino groaned slightly but more to make sure nobody would forget the little feud between them, since Neji had beaten her in the third round of the chunin exam.

"Team Two will be Taranee-sama, Hay Lin-sama and Kakashi-sensei, as our strongest squad as I think that Air and Fire will be most effective against smoke, even though this is only a vague theory."

The three nodded and Hay Lin chose not to protest against Shikamaru. He too had not stopped to call her, or anyone of W.I.T.C.H., sama.

"The members of Team Three, our largest team, are Will-sama, Irma-sama, Cornelia-sama and Hinata."

Again the four girls nodded and Shikamaru continued.

"And the last team is formed by the cat, Choji and me."

"The cat has a name, you know." snarled Napoleon angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. While I must say that every team has one to bind the enemy for at least a while. I do want to say that you should first contact the others before engaging. A team of four is unusual for Shinobi and the last team we encountered was the so called "Sound Four" of Orochimaru, each one of them was incredibly strong. Kiba and I would have been dead if it weren't for the sand guys and even though Neji and Choji had won their fights alone, both of them were on the verge of death and only thanks to the Fifth did they manage to recover."

Kakashi continued, this time serious, knowing that the lives of these girls were hanging on the amount of information he had to give them.

"Well, you know that your friend has received a cursed seal and it is safe to assume that those four will have one too. While you have certainly seen one or more of the sound Shinobi to activate one during our last battles. I have to say that those were only inferior seals, the real strong ones are the Seal of Heaven and the Seal of Earth, and I bet that they have some of these."

"So those things give them a huge power boost?" asked Taranee, while listening with an unmatched concentration.

"Yes, there are three steps of a seals: The first one is when they are only partly covered with black dots, the second one is when they are completely covered with black dots, both being referred as level one. More chakra, more speed, more strength but you will lose a bit of your personality each time you activate it.

At level two you change your appearance and you gain an incredible boost of chakra but it strains your endurance, so most likely they won't stay in that form too long, as it also consumes a lot of chakra."

"Quite a lot to deal with." said Irma, who was unsure how to respond to this information. "So the fast and strong enemies with the weird abilities can even become faster, stronger and weirder?"

Kakashi chuckled darkly. "Quite accurate, yes."

"Then, here we go." said Will, standing up and taking the Heart of Kandrakar into her hand. "Guardians Unite!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I found the piecessssss, my liege." Bowed Cedric, while in human once again and was holding out a small, brown sac.

"I see, now we have the remaining shards of my dear sisters' former prison. Are you sure you found all parts?"

"Yessssss, the jewel itself wasn't big and the shards were easy to collect, since nobody had entered that spot after this boy left."

"Well then, we shall go to the next part. Since you've sent your best ninjas on a meaningless hunt. I suggest you go by yourself to collect the needed integrants for my little project."

"I can go your highness." interrupted Kabuto, who feared that Orochimaru might lose control. He was only human after all and not used being treated like this.

"What a wonderful idea." Phobos congratulated the young medic while smiling like a cat who just caught a tasty bird. "It's good to know that at least one ninja is trying to think, don't you agree, Orochimaru?"

Said person struggled very hard not to lash out and eventually succeeded as his only response was a grunt, whatever his meaning was left to the listener.

Phobos interpreted it as "Of course your highness" and turned to Cedric again. "So, please bring me the Star of Threbe, we will need it."

Cedric bowed and walked out of the Throne room alongside Kabuto, who was looking at Cedric with a strange anticipation.

"What do you want?" asked Cedric. He sounded a bit annoyed.

Kabuto laughed in an embarrassed manner. "Sorry, did I startle you, Cedric-kun?"

Cedric's eyes narrowed and turned reptilian again and looked dangerously at the medic nin.

"Don't think you can fool me with your false attitude, human. I have seen the likesssss of you. Be sure that I will keep my eyessss on you."

The hissing made the threat even more dangerous, but Kabuto didn't flinch much to Cedric's dislike. Instead his smile widened even more and he bowed.

"Excuse me, Lord Cedric-kun."

While the Naga appreciated apologies and grovelling, knowing it was done to mock him only angered him.

Ignoring Kabuto he walked off to the deeper parts of the palace, wandering for the secret section with the magical artefacts, objects, and supplies.

Kabuto looked after him, pleased to have disturbed Cedric's mind. He would be cautious from now on and knew that the shape shifter would be trying to get the better of him. He wouldn't have thought it would be so easy to get under his skin, but then again he was extremely talented in the art of messing with other peoples minds and since he was with Orochimaru. He had more than enough experience with snakes.

After a few seconds he reached a window and jumped out, landing smoothly next to a few surprised Lurdens, and started to run towards the main gate. After he passed it he continued on his way until he vanished between the trees of the nearby forest, and thus beginning his journey to an unknown destination.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nerissa and Sasuke had arrived near the Heart of Zoan an hour ago and were even successful in locating him, but that was the exact moment where their troubles had begun. It seemed the natives of Zoan, having a pretty developed sense of smell due being more feral, had smelled the two invaders as soon as they set foot in their, some people might call it a village, and were now rather busy with a furious pursuit of the strange intruders.

They never smelled something like that? It was not a smell of this world; it was a smell, more than dangerous for them. Instinctively they could feel that this smell meant a lot of trouble for them and that it would be best to get rid of those foreigners.

Countless, bizarre beings, some of them looking like animals of earth, some resembling cursed seal level two ninjas and others were looking so strange that it was hard to find a common trait to compare them to known things.

Yet, Sasuke was doing his best to keep Nerissa and him safe, having found two flowers who gave a really great odour, enough to cover their smell and since then they were hidden deep in a seven meter bush of those flowers.

While his black eyes zoned from one spot to another, noticing the exploding tags he set up around them, if any of those…things…would get near them, the following explosion would be enough to warn him and hopefully to reduce the number of them by one.

Nerissa, her eyes fixed at the projection of the image of the Heart, wasn't talking. Sasuke could live with that since he was somebody who did appreciate silence, but he would rather know the strategy and the plan that they were following. The only thing he did know was that they, somehow, had to extract the powers of the Heart.

"Mistress" Sasuke's voice was a whisper but if Nerissa heard him, she didn't show it, so the Uchiha stopped trying to know the plan.

He could hear the monstrous creatures stomping and sprinting around them, their voices and growls unnerving him. How could he be sure, that they weren't going to burst through the bush any second?

"Do you realize the weakness of the Heart?" asked Nerissa silently.

Sasuke, after having heard so much about the mystical powers off a heart didn't know they had exploitable weaknesses and shook his head.

"At first I thought the Heart would be their leader but now, looking at them it seems he is more of an outcast, not knowing what to do with his powers. He is there, alone on the outer part of the village. The huts-."

Sasuke could hear some disgust in her voice while regarding the rather poorly built huts with new curiosity.

"-of the others are more then twenty meters away and the Leader's house is always in the centre of the village. Can you guess why, my dear heart?"

Sasuke looked at the house and at the others, then watched the beasts hurrying next to him again and compared them to the image of the Heart in the crystal. Then the realization hit Sasuke like a punch of Tsunade.

"He is smaller."

Nerissa smiled and nodded, pointing at the hut of the Heart.

"The entrance of that house is much smaller, those primitive Neanderthals are not acknowledging him because he is smaller and thus physically weaker then them. Perhaps they are scared of his powers as well and keep him away or he didn't even realize he got mystical abilities. Anyway, this is the weakness to exploit."

Sasuke was impressed. By studying them for about twenty minutes; she already figured out their way of thinking and had come up with a plan.

"I will go to him and…bargain…with him. You lure the others away from that hut, preferably for at least half an hour."

"As you wish, mistress…" Sasuke says, having pulled out two kunai already. Then left the bush and hurled them at the beasts. Right after igniting a few of their huts with a well aimed fireball, before dashing into the depths of the forest, having nearly the whole habitants of the village on his trail.

"My, my, isn't he enthusiastic?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Matt had his hands in his pockets, and was wandering aimlessly around the village. He looked at the upcoming moon. It had become night already, the owls were on the hunt and only a few ninja were patrolling in the deserted streets, ignoring him.

Matt was fine with that, he could use the silence to think over the last few days, so much had happened which he didn't comprehend. The Ninjas of the Leaf, the Ninjas of the Sound, Nerissa, Phobos, how much worse could it get?

They had their hands full last time when there was only one of them around. Now they had to fight them both at the same time, while dealing with those freakish ninja, and each one of them, at least the ones he met where able to deal with one Guardian.

To be honest, he didn't know how he would compare against them. Shagon had been able to fight all of them at the same time and managed to get the upper hand, but that was before they were able to control their emotions well enough, still you couldn't really train yourself not to hate, could you.

Perhaps you could pull it off not to show it, perhaps you could convince yourself not to be so full of ire but in the end, deep within you soul, you still hated and that was the power Shagon used to enhance himself.

Everybody hated, all living creatures, whether they were human or not, was capable of hating and had done so at least once. Together with Shagon's ability to manipulate the opponent in a way which lead him no other option to hate him, he became a serious opponent.

Logically, the longer the match continued; the greater the chance to loose yourself in hatred, thus leaving your tired self with a foe who was even more powerful then in the beginning of the fight.

Well, that was how Shagon was able to hold his ground against a Guardian. What could he do? The only thing was to shoot green beams and create glamour zones, Matt refused to believe that this was all the Heart of Earth was capable off. Then again, it was more then Napoleon and Huggles had. He could fly and shoot beams, which they couldn't.

So, he was weaker then the girls and the girls were having a hard time against the ninja, how pathetic could he get?

All the time he was whining that his powers were weaker. Right now, Matt Olsen was disgusted with himself.

"I will become stronger now, no more whining." He told himself silently but then jumped up as he heard an unexpected yell.

"YOSH, that is the right way to think."

He whirled around to see a… well, unusual boy standing on the roof of a house gazing at him with a grim smile. While his appearance didn't bother him at all, Matt was used more bizarre looking people. He did appear strange, with that bowl cut, those really big eyebrows and the green jumpsuit with the dark green vest and the orange leg warmers.

Cornelia would have called this a fashion disaster beyond repair and would still not be too harsh. Ironically the bowl cut reminded Matt at Bruce Lee, the wide known best fighter in Earth's History.

Matt had seen documentation about his life where it was stated that he was able to punch seven times in a second. He hoped that this guy couldn't do that. After seeing the documentary he looked how many punches he could throw in a second and was shocked to see that one of his fists still took longer then a second to hit the target. At that moment he realized for the first time the difference between him and a world class fighter.

Lee, looked down at the dark haired boy, and just to confirm it, he yelled a loud question.

"Are you Matt Olsen?"

Uncertain if confirming that intelligence was a good idea he shrugged it off, I mean how worse could it be?

"Yes and you are?"

Lee smiled in anticipation; a shiver of excitement went through his body, his muscles tensed as he readied himself for a battle and jumped, crossing twenty meters without a run up as if he was simply jumping down a single stair.

He landed smoothly in front of Matt, a wide smile on his face and a strange gleam in his eyes and for a second Matt thought it was fire but realized how silly that sounded.

Then the boy took a strange stance with an arm on his back while the other faced Matt, as he would think Matt would take himself any second, his feet were in a 90 degree angle to each other and the smile vanished, leaving a face full of determination.

"I am Rock Lee, the Hidden Leaf Village's Handsome Devil." The boy introduced himself while Matt was not thinking he was the best looking guy out there. Matt still considered it as a very brave act from this dude to say that he was handsome.

"And I want to fight you!"

Once again he was proven wrong, maybe someone up there really didn't like him, or he was paying for his deeds as Shagon. Nonetheless, he was attracting far too many guys who wanted something from him.

"Right…, and if I won't."

"I am most sorry Matt-san." Began the Shinobi, "But unfortunately I will not give you a choice. I saw your fight against Daisuke-."

"Then you must have seen how bad I was!" protested Matt, really wanting to avoid fighting someone who looked like Bruce Lee, and knowing his luck, could probably fight like him too.

Lee's face darkened when Matt mentioned his performance on the fight.

"You did hold back Matt-san, I do not know if those were your real skills when you are not transformed but you did not use it. I want to fight you, exact the same way Sasuke fought you."

"You a friend of him or something?"

"Sasuke once counted amongst our comrades but by willingly betraying us he lost that status for the most of us, but to honour Naruto-kun's and Sakura-san's wish and friendship. I will try my best to retrieve him. And for that I must know if I can defeat him in combat, so you see by fighting you like the way you fought him. I will be able to measure my capacity."

"How do you know all this about me?" asked Matt, a bit shocked that his transformation seemed to be common knowledge.

"All you questions shall be answered, but after our little spar. Please prepare yourself."

Lee charged suddenly and before Matt could even blink he was right in front of him and Lee's fist flew towards him. Instinctively, Matt dove to the side, for that blink of a second thinking that he could actually avoid being hit. Lee, after being sure that Matt wouldn't be hit, increased the speed of the punch and hit the wall next to Matt with full force thus cracking it, while burying his fist completely in the house wall.

Matt, of course noticed this and realized that if this guy would have been serious with the first punch, his grandchildren would still feel the pain. The force of this punch would no doubt have imprinted itself into his DNA, if he survived that is.

"Please do not underestimate me." Spoke Lee, now completely serious, no trace of a smile left. "Then I will be serious from now on. I do not believe in holding back and I do not wish that my enemy, no matter how powerful, should hold back either."

Matt gulped, but strangely understood him; he would respect this boy's philosophy.

That and the fact that he didn't want to die.

Matt morphed into Shagon again. His body first being engulfed with the silver light of the Shape Shifters and then black wings grew out of his back. He became taller than most men and broader. His form becoming much more muscular, his messy hair now looking like a nest of snakes, a tail emerged from his back, alongside with new clothing and a golden mask that hid his face, until know had never been seen by anyone.

"Now then, let's start." Alongside the intimidating body, came a matching, and as much or maybe even more intimidating voice.

Lee was now smiling again, once again taking his battle stance, and now standing three meters away of the Regent.

"But I must warn you, I am not an easy opponent as I am in the springtime of my youth."

With a yell Lee charged while jumping and whirling around in midair, thus gaining spin for a devastating kick which was blocked by Matt's massive arms yet contained enough force to push him several feet back.

Matt was eternally grateful for the metal plates on is arms, now unsure if he possessed enough endurance to block kicks and punches of that force with only his skin and bones.

So, now defiantly knowing he was outclassed in terms of hand to hand combat he decided to play on the greatest weakness of the ninjas; the lack of the ability to fly.

His mighty wings started to clap, lifting him from the ground and before Lee could attack again, Matt was already hovering at least twenty meters in the sky.

Now having a safe distance, the young earthling started to collect a good deal of energy in his eyes, which started to glow green. Matt didn't realize it before but now he was astonished that he could still see while charging his blast, somehow it seemed important to know right now.

This didn't take longer than a few seconds as a huge bright green beam emerged from his mask and soared with great speed at Lee, who simply jumped a few feet back, while still observing him.

Matt started to generate beam after beam, determined not to give him enough time to think of a counterattack. He was bound to hit sometime, wasn't he?

But Lee dodged the blasts effortlessly, compared to most of Tenten's projectiles they were rather slow and the young chunin had trained with the most intense programs possible. Most of them invented and honed by Gai-sensei, and now the countless hours of practicing were paying off.

Lee jumped back at a house wall, used the motion to repulse himself from it and gained the needed power to jump high enough to hit Matt but even though Lee shot towards him really fast, Matt could avoid it.

He might be inferior in hand to hand combat but if Matt could be proud on one thing. It was his flying. In the air he felt at home. As long as he had his wings, he was able to avoid nearly anything if he saw it in time.

That boy can be as fast as he wanted but in the air, there are no ways to change your path if you couldn't fly and all attacks and assaults are straight forth. Matt, compared to Lee, may be a novice in terms of fighting, but still was experienced enough to avoid such situations.

"As expected." grinned Lee, having no problems to land gracefully after missing Matt in the air.

"You are quite good."

It was tempting but he didn't want to use the Lotus right now. He vowed after all to only to use it in a life or death situation in order to protect someone precious or to defend his very own way of ninja.

"Thanks, but let's bring this on the next level. I am sorry to say this but I do not intend to lose anymore."

Lee nodded, feeling the adrenalin pumping through his body. Yes, this was the fun of fighting, the excitement you felt when you faced a fierce foe, someone whose abilities you didn't know.

Lee pulled out a few shuriken and hurled them at the great figure and was delighted to see that Matt was able to hit all three of them with an amazing aim.

Knowing that this would be a challenge Lee jumped again against a wall, then from there against another, and from there he hurled a few shuriken and kunai before using another roof as a jumping point, leaving Matt to deal with a few projectiles and himself.

Surprisingly Matt reacted rather smooth, instead of blasting the shuriken; he avoided them by flying towards Lee, who had not expected this.

Using the sudden advantage Matt punched Lee hard in the face, sending the boy with the bushy eyebrows flying against the wall he just used.

Unlike before, this time he didn't manage to land safely and crashed hard against the surface and slide down.

With a small groan Lee stood up again, gritting his teeth in pain. That punch really hit him hard; those thick arms of the transformed figure were not only for show.

"You alright?" asked Matt, not wanting to be on the black lists of the friends and superiors of this guy if he should injure him somehow.

"Yeah, you do are a worthy opponent." complimented Lee, smiling again. A challenging opponent was the best way to get strong and if he defeated this guy. He would be a stronger man.

He started to run again, avoided the next beams and jumped again when he was right under Matt. While he shot upwards like an arrow Matt flew to the side and aimed at the boy and shot again, pretty confident that he was going to hit this time, but he should have known that this wouldn't have been too easy.

In midair Lee did some amazing manoeuvres, twisting and bending his body in incredible movements. The young boy wasn't sure that someone could pull it off and before he realized it, Lee was next to him, switching into an Overhead and kicked him hard on the head.

Matt soared towards the ground like a watermelon when it was thrown from a skyscraper, with the only difference that Matt hasn't exploded to pieces at the heavy impact. He felt pain, as a headache he had never experienced and would not experience again as long as Lee and his feet stayed away from his head started to grow.

For a few seconds Matt did not know where he was, that was until he heard Lee landing next to him. The kick he just dealt would have made Tsubasa Ozhora green with envy.

Matt managed to stand up again. The world was still slightly spinning, and after waiting for a few moments he regained his senses completely.

"That was one hell of a kick." muttered the regent, still holding his head, afraid that the bump would never vanish again.

"Please be ready, I am attacking again." Lee warned him and gave him a few seconds to prepare before starting another assault. With unmatched speed the chunin of the Leaf sprinted towards his opponent, diving in front of him and kicking him hard in the chin; sending him upwards this time while shouting "Konoha Shofu" (Leaf rising Wind).

At the same time he used his hands to repulse himself from the ground, and continuing to kick him steadily in the stomach while rising higher and higher until he grabbed Matt's shoulders, now starting to fall towards the ground, while his back faced the earth.

A few meters before the "landing" Lee hurled Matt around and now Matt's back was pointing towards the ground and right at the same time of the impact Lee delivered one last punch at the same spot that he just kicked with both of his legs.

He heard a gurgling sound, and suddenly saw the body of his opponent glowing once more, slowly shifting back to his normal form; lying on the ground, and groaning in pain.

While the transformation absorbed a good deal of the impact, and left Matt without injuries, the agony of the strike combo he just received had left a good imprint.

WHACK

Matt's eyes flared open again, trying to see what had caused this noise, only being surprised to see the girl from earlier, the one with the two buns on her head. What was her name again? Milou?

"What the heck are you doing Lee?" snarled the girl dangerously, having obviously whacked the boy forcefully on the head, shaking him like a snow globe.

"We were only sparring Tenten." protested Lee weakly, although he knew that all his efforts were in vain.

So Tenten was her name, no wonder he had thought of Milou, as Tenten and Milou was one of his favourite comics had had read. For a brief moment, he wanted to tell her that in his world, her name was a boy's name but after seeing the girl treating the guy who had beat him up right now just like a rag doll he decided not to mention it.

Then the information sunk in. He had lost, again. And this guy, Lee didn't even use any kind of techniques like spitting fire or energy balls or anything like the others. He only used his arms and legs.

Matt, not paying attention to them anymore because he was lost in his thoughts, was completely devastated. Here he was, once again defeated like a third class newbie, and proving that his skill was nowhere near that of the others.

Somehow, he was sure that Caleb would have won this fight. He just knew it. Furiously Matt punched the ground, and was starting to hate himself. Inside of him, the true Shagon was delighted. It warmed him that he was associated with this weak worm but those defeats led to self loathing. It is the perfect ground for him to recover enough. It was just a matter of time.

"You are a sore loser, aren't you?" Tenten, who was now looking at the angry Matt, commented dryly

"I am not a sore loser." Answered Matt dully. "I'm a good loser. I am so good I lose all time." He joked weakly, even though his pain could be heard, and both Ninja realized that he meant what he said.

Yet Tenten smiled at the joke, it was not a bad one, it was one of the best she heard recently, proving how boring her last days had been.

"Don't feel bad. Lee is one of the stronger guys around here…"

"I don't need your pity." Matt interrupted her, while standing up and feeling the soreness of his body. He just wanted to sleep, to rest, and to forget that fight.

"It was a good fight." said Lee, bowing at Matt. "I am sure we both learned lots of this spar. Do not despair Matt-kun." Matt was surprised to hear that he was now using a more personal honorific towards him.

"The path to become a great warrior is full with defeats and struggles and we both have a long way to go. Let us train and become better together, starting tomorrow with our mission, as the fires of youth and determination are ignited within us and are burning with passion!"

For a few seconds Matt stared at Lee but strangely he wasn't feeling as bad now.

"Yeah." said Matt hoarsely, he was smiling again. "Maybe you are right."

"It would be an honour for me to have you as a guest at my humble home, so that we can start our bond of comradeship right tonight."

Tenten laughed after seeing Matt's expression as she knew what he was thinking.

"Don't worry, he talks like that all the time. It is his way of making friends."

Relieved that Lee didn't mean what he thought. He laughed as well and extended his hand to Lee, who shook it while beaming widely.

"Well then, I am happy to accept. I do need a good night's rest. I have received enough of a beating for the last twenty four hours to last an eternity."

Tenten, grinning while one of her two best friends was no doubt already planning insane training drills for them to go through, patted Matt's back.

"You have absolutely no idea what is coming at you." She stated merrily while looking extremely happy.

"What did you mean about a mission, by the way?" asked Matt confused, now remembering that Lee just mentioned something about their mission.

"Oh right, Lee and I are two of the three who will accompany you and Queen Elyon-sama to search for Naruto-kun and Jiraya-sama."

Matt nodded and didn't bother to ask who the third person was, not really expecting to know that person.

"One question though." Started Matt, while they began to walk toward the south of the village.

"Shoot."

"Where the hell were all the ninja patrols I saw during the day...?"

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"I have a bad feeling about this." commented Irma in her best Obi Wan voice, as she flew between Cornelia and Will, while Hinata was running below them, the veins visible on her temples, searching the area carefully with her Byakugan.

"I don't sense anything." joked Will, grinning with Irma while remembering the Star Wars week on television. Where every evening one of the movies was shown. Irma, being a Star Wars fan, her little brother Chris, Hay Lin, who was probably a bigger fan than her brunette friend, and Will had watched them together, enjoying a bit of real fantasy for a short time, after having experienced it in real life, movies and films with a similar theme suddenly appeared mundane, but that was not so for Star Wars.

Cornelia on the other hand, in the strong belief that she got more then enough magic in her real life and the fact that Wookies and ugly robed men didn't belong on her list of favourite beings, didn't participate, and sorted loudly glaring at the two girls.

"I'm sorry misses' geeks but could we focus here?"

"The force is week in this one."

"Right you are, my young padawan, a lot to learn she has."

"Shut up, you tw-"

"STOP!" yelled Hinata suddenly. She detected the four figures in the ground to late as they jumped out of the earth, surrounding the four girls.

"How'd this happen, we're smarter than this." mumbled Irma, looking at the four smirking ninjas.

"Cut your Nerd Wars quotes already." Hissed Cornelia, "We are in serious trouble."

"That you are." confirmed the brown haired girl, from her looks she couldn't be older than eighteen, yet even Cornelia had to admit. She was drop dead gorgeous.

"Wow, that girl is a babe." said Irma. "And she is the one with smoke powers, right?"

"You already received information. What good soldiers you have."

The girl turned to the boy with the bow and the boy with the sword. "You two go ahead. We will take care of this. Find someone and get the information."

The two nodded and vanished, leaving them alone, the girl was now smiling and licked her even teeth with her tongue.

"Now we will see the powers of the Guardians, Shinta, go."

The youngest of the Sound Four nodded and after finishing three hand seals. He once again turned into several parrots that started flying around the battlefield.

Cornelia, not wanting to be surprised, landed on the ground and placed her palms on the earth, sending six roots shooting out of the ground, five of them catching the parrots and the last one wrapping around the girl.

"You go and call the others." ordered Will while turning to Hinata, who nodded and dashed of to find the three other teams.

Meanwhile Irma shot a stream of water at the captured kunoichi, and hitting her in her well endowed chest ripping a hole through it. They realized fast enough that she had begun to turn into smoke and Will wasted no time and hurled a few lightning bolts, opening more holes in her body.

After a few seconds of attacking the girl looked now more like a filter but was still standing, the smile never leaving her face.

"Aren't you impatient?" mocked Tomoko before escaping the root by simple walking out of it.

"Was that all you three could do?"

Her right arm turned into smoke and formed into a giant fist before she sent it soaring at the three Guardians, who barely avoided it while looking wide eyed at her.

"Come on, entertain me."

"Be careful with your wishes," spat Irma angrily. She didn't like to be underestimated. "They can become true." With a wink of her arm the water on the ground, the leftovers of her last attack, formed a spear of water and flew fast at Tomoko, and went piercing through her body. Once the water spear was sticking in her body, Irma expanded it to a sphere of water, completely ripping her body apart.

Will and Cornelia looked at Irma, shocked at frightened at the same time that she had come up with such a deadly attack. Nobody would have thought that Irma Lair would invent techniques with that effect but Will realized how foolish that was. They were in a war where it was to kill or to get killed. Irma had just realized this before them.

On the roof of a house the smoke started to gather, slowly forming the marvellous body of the young woman, who was grinning widely?

"That was such a nasty attack, you know. I sure underestimated you guys. Your abilities are frightening."

The captured parrots split in even smaller parrots, now free again and started to dive at the Guardians. Will, reacting faster this time shot a lightning bolt, but the parrot she was aiming at, split itself again. Surprisingly, the moment the bolt was in the middle, is splinted too, hitting both parrots.

Will, not expecting this, smiled. "Cool, this is handy."

Cornelia, not wanting to fall behind, concentrated and ripped a huge boulder from the ground and sent it hurtling it at the girl, who once again created a giant smoke fist before smashing the boulder.

"Ts, ts, ts, what a primitive attack, did you really think you could hit me with a rock?"

"HUMAN BULLET TANK!" they heard a yell and Choji, as a giant human boulder, smashed into her thus causing her to turn into bits of smoke again.

Cornelia grinned weakly. "Well, close enough."

"You guys alright?" asked Shikamaru, now standing next to Cornelia.

Napoleon had transformed and was looking at the parrots.

"Are they an illusion?" he asked tensely.

"Yes."

"Wow, thanks for the explanation, now everything will turn out alright." Said Irma sarcastically.

The parrots gathered again, forming once again into a human, the illusion was dispelled.

"Your cat is quite annoying." said Shinta, glaring slightly at Napoleon

"Sis, this animal can dispel illusions of my level quite easily."

"Don't worry." said Tomoko, now grinning again.

"We have seen enough." With that she let a huge amount of smoke out of her body, covering the whole roof in smoke and the two left, leaving the others with no chance to follow.

That was the exact same moment, Kakashi, Hay Lin and Taranee appeared after letting the Air Guardian blast away the smokescreen.

"Wow, isn't that our saviour." said Irma dryly. "He came just in time. What would we do without him?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. Things didn't go well; he had the bad feeling that the Guardians didn't respect him much.

"How many of them were here?"

"Well, first four, then two of them left, leaving us with Smokey, the babe and parrot freak. Then they left and you arrived, end of story."

"What an astonishing summary." Said Shikamaru dryly, unhappy that they still were very short on information.

"So what now?" asked Taranee.

"Well, I guess it is time for us to go back to Heatherfield. We left rather hastily and I don't think our parents will be happy. I mean, Astral Drops aren't good for a long time."

"Will is right, we should return before my AD signs me up for the cheerleading squad or worse, the football club." Cornelia shuddered at the thought

"Corny," spoke Will carefully, "We don't have astral drops, only Hay Lin has one. We thought we could return soon so we didn't bother to make some."

"So we will have detention for a life time? That is just great!"

Before the others could respond the Heart started to blink like a Beeper, flashing in a dark pink and illuminating Will.

"Well, guess this is our call to Kandrakar. Let's go." Will slashed the air with the Heart and opened a fold, entering it with the other girls after giving their good byes to the ninjas.

They appeared in a different room then usual, which was surprising, at least for the red head, as she certainly didn't aim here and she had gotten a lot better with folding.

"Guys, I didn't want us to come here." She informed her friends, looking around alarmed.

The girls reacted immediately but were still too slow; a circle of green fire burned its way around them leaving them trapped.

Before Irma could put it out, a blond woman who appeared to be in her fifties entered the room, smirking.

"I expected you to be a bit faster, even this old lady here is still faster then you."

Realizing that this was just a fancy and weird welcome from Kandrakar, they relaxed and gave Irma the opportunity to get back with a remark.

"Sorry for not reacting immediately. We didn't know it was a tradition in Kandrakar to attack the Guardians."

"You do now." smiled Halinor, the former Fire Guardian, pointing at the door behind her. "Please follow me, the Oracle awaits you."

Halinor led the girls through the fortress thus letting them fully see the amazing architecture of Kandrakar, some parts, so assumed Taranee, could only be build by magic, like the giant orbs, filled with strange clouds.

They passed a chamber filled with statues, each of them wearing a suit of armour and impressive weapons decorated with jewels, runes and ornaments.

"What's that?" asked Hay Lin, admiring the statue of someone who looked exactly like the earth definition of a dwarf warrior. With a long beard, a bulky from, a grim face and a giant axe in his belt.

"This is the Hall of Warriors, men and women who helped Kandrakar and the Universe with no magical powers are immortalized here as statues to show our respect to them."

"So like Caleb then?" asked Cornelia, liking the idea of huge statue of Caleb, perhaps even with her. A giant statue of her, yes that was something she could get used to.

Halinor nodded, "Yes, people like Caleb. The person here." She pointed at the Dwarf, "I knew personally. He helped us countless times, after we saved his home planet. He swore to help us, to pay back the debt he felt he had.

We tried to convince him otherwise, but as you know from literature. Dwarfs can be extremely stubborn. So he came along and I have to admit he saved us a lot of times." Her expression saddened when she continued.

"He died like a true hero, we had to channel our powers and that always takes some time. He protected us for ten minutes against a horde of attacking Gounters," after seeing that they did not know what Gounters were she added "humanoid ant-like looking creatures, the leading civilisation of the Planet Goura. The wounds were fatal and he died after the battle."

While she explained they had reached the chamber of the Oracle, who stood up before bowing lightly to the Guardians. 

"Thank you, my old friend, for doing me this little favour."

Halinor bowed and left the room, winking at the girls before closing the door after her.

"I appreciate your coming, my friends." he spoke, sitting down again on his cushion.

"Not that we had a chance." muttered Cornelia silently, causing Taranee and Irma to grin.

"I saw your fight against the two ninjas…" he began but was rudely interrupted by Irma.

"You mean you saw how we get our asses kicked?"

"I must point out that you were not defeated…" he started again, completely ignoring the terrible assault of the inter-dimensional protocol the Water Guardian had just committed.

"Oh yeah, really. We have the imprints of their sandals as proof, we can show it if you want."

While the other girls had the decency to look partly embarrassed, Irma looked angrily at the Oracle, whose lips twitched suspiciously but he managed to maintain his stoic expression, even though his eyes were showing his amusement.

"Oh, that won't be necessary." He said, not able to banish the amusement in his voice. "What I meant to say was that your defeat, even though it was tie, was expected."

"Hold on here." said Will, her eyes narrowing. "You knew we had no chance against those ninjas and you still sent us there?"

"It is not me who had to realize your weakness; it had to be you girls. If I had simply told you that you were too weak. You would have been angry and insulted and perhaps would have done something to prove me wrong, which would have led to a real defeat."

"We could have been killed." protested Taranee

"That was why the Shinobi of Konoha were there, to prevent this from happening."

"So what now?" asked Cornelia. "Are you giving us some new powers to battle them?"

"You will discover the real strength of the Guardians and your elements. A teacher will train you; she is a being of wisdom and power. She once had been my teacher, as well the teacher of the former Guardians and many Hearts."

"Wow, she must look like a shrivelled raisin." said Irma, earning a soft elbow check from Taranee.

"Where do we find this person? We still have to deal with our parents, as only Hay Lin has an Astral Drop right now, and it is perhaps causing havoc as we speak."

"Do not fear, Guardians. The astral drop of the Air Guardian has vanished a long time ago, all your parents, teachers and school friends are convinced that you, and Matthew Olsen, are right now in a certain school exchange program."

"That was… unexpected nice" started Will, but Taranee was angry.

"And daring, who gave you the right to meddle into our private affairs? So we can't go back for how long?"

"I am most sorry, but it is the best right now. And it will take as long as you need to get ready."

Hay Lin, trying to turn the conversation in a more stress free area, asked. "So how do we get there, is she in the council or something?"

"Unfortunately not, she has always refused to be a member. She also refused to be an Oracle, a terrible loss for the universe, but she takes a genuine joy in teaching others, so she became the cosmic teacher, even on earth her name is well known."

The girls perked up, looking in anticipation at the omnipotent man.

"I assume you have heard of …"

tbc

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I thought I will try a cliff-hanger, maybe some of you can guess the person I mean; it is a woman of one of the legends and/or mythologies.

Hope you enjoyed it.


	11. The First Step

Hi folks, I apologize for the delay but I had quite the fight with all my exams, (I am in my Graduation Year) and had not that much time to write.

Also, special thanks to Guardian's Light, who was so kind to proofread this chapter, and now you will be able to have another chapter without many errors. If you haven't read Tsunami or Tectonic, I advise you to do so, those are two incredibly well written stories.

avatoa, Add Chocolatebunny, Sabaku no Yumi: Thank you for your kind words, I shall do my best.

Alexis kiah: I am grateful for your suggestions but I am sorry to say, that I don't really plan a romance between Hay Lin and Sasuke, especially since Sasuke is acting under Nerissa's orders right now but I am pretty sure you will like the turn of events.

Renji9031: Don't worry she won't be part of Akatsuki but she might have connections which might surprise you.

The Crazy Talk Kid: Thank you, I would like to think so too but I have still ways to go.

Shiroi Misa: I am glad you liked this story and Matt will have some quarrels with his demon, let's just wait and see how they will turn out.

Sasha: I am happy to see that you enjoyed this, I hope you will continue reading and enjoying Ninja and Guardians.

Guardian's Light: Again, thanks for everything, we will see more about the teacher now .

Anyway I wish all of you a happy new year and without any further ado I present you the next part.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could if I tried.

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"The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult."

Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand

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Battles are lost and won, nobody can and will deny that and some will say there is a pattern; they say a battle is influenced by the determination of the combatants, the willpower. Some say it is only a comparison of skill, the one who is superior wins, while others are of the opinion that no matter how skilled or talented someone is the one with the greater experience will win.

If that was a fact, it would mean the older someone is the greater the advantage he has and thus making him the better fighter or at least the one who will come out victorious.

One drop of knowledge is more powerful than a sea of force, wisdom and intelligence are essential to the outcome of a battle, and most of the time is gained through experience.

Luck, an important yet unpredictable factor, is still influencing battles in an unforeseen way and is able to change a situation immediately; no matter how bad or how good it looks.

So the many ways of a good fighter were varying; wisdom, talent, power, luck, hard work and intelligence, even though most would focus on one, they would agree that all of these attributes were needed.

The old woman that was sitting in a gigantic dome of earth filled with thousands of wheels, big purple discuses of energy that were hanging like paintings on the walls of the dome except in two places; the exits of the room, possessed all these attributes, honed over the eons.

Leaning on her cane, an old piece of wood carved with artistic runes and symbols, she gazed into one of those purple discs, inside seeing the Oracle and five young girls, and hearing every word they were saying while grinning maliciously.

A shrivelled raisin indeed, that girl would learn to respect her elders, the hard way. Her grin widened when she saw that three of the girls looked confused having never heard her name before, the eyes of the dark skinned girl widened in realization apparently having recognized her name while the brown haired girl scoffed.

"You can't be serious?"

Oh, the very hard way!

Her laughter echoed the ghostly dome as she took a few steps back while laughing, partly of anticipation and partly of amusement. Teaching was what she enjoyed; she loved and lived for it.

Well the Guardians would find out about her way of teaching soon enough, and if respect to people older then them was one of the lessons she had to give, who was she to decline?

After all, teaching a slow learning student was so much more fun and it seemed that she would get five of them.

She taped the ground with her cane and magically the ground under her started to move like a conveyor belt aiming to the exit of her room.

Once again she admired her ancient rod, being in her possession for centuries, even though contrary to regular belief, it was completely useless.

Many people who had visited her to seek studies, knowledge or power, always were thinking that this cane had magical abilities. She didn't bother to correct them, it was actually one of her favourite hobbies to give this cane a variety of powers, saying that it was the source of her energy or it had the ability to return the death, one time she had made one generation of Guardians believe that she could create planets with it.

So many fools, so many possible lies and every time it was funnier then the last. Whereas she only had it because it looked so fancy, but it was always hilarious and entertaining to see other people stare at it with fear, admiration, respect or even greed.

There had been a few who tried to steal it, pity, she never liked to harm anyone but she liked thieving imbeciles even less, so she had to dispose them and only few of them actually put up a fight, always leaving her place in a mess. You would think having as much power as her would ease such tasks like cleaning but she had learned soon enough that sometimes magic could not match the efficiency of a broom and brushing.

Of course it wasn't her who had to the cleaning but her students back then, Merlin, so she remembered one of her countless students, had a knack of enchanting brooms and brushes in a magnificent way to do the chores. She smiled with the thought of him, he was talented, a worthy Heart and coincidently was from the same world as the new coming girls.

She hadn't got a visit from that world for quite a time now, the last one was four hundred years ago, save the last Guardians of course, but they hardly counted as they were told by the Oracle to come to her.

The cave to enter her realm was a tourist attraction but his original story was long lost, so she wasn't that surprised by the lack of guests not that she complained. She had enough to do already, with all those who asked her advice and sought for her training, but like everything worth seeking; you had to pass a test, a very amusing test.

At least for the ones who watched…?

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In a safe distance to the roof where the Konoha Shinobi were currently sitting, two figures tried to put as much houses between them as possible with only one thing in mind; to get the hell away from them!

They had seriously underestimated the Guardians and even though the battle, without the interference, would have ended to their favour, they put up a much greater resistance than expected. Especially the Water Guardian's attack was frightening at least.

"Sis, we should get away faster, the silver haired man was Hatake Kakashi and next to combat he is famous for his tracking. I bet he can smell us the whole time and will start to hunt. With this damn cat, I can't even use my technique!"

That was another worrying component of the situation; the cat. Somehow the cat's presence was enough to dispel a high level illusion as Shinta's. That was a major drawback in their attack strategy, since the real teamwork depended on the youngest boy in their team.

While the other three, her especially, seemed really strong in combat, it was the fact that the created illusion of Shinta often ensured a victory.

True, like all ninja he had the basics in close combat but he was rather weak in that prospect, leaving them with nothing but retreat at the moment.

"I realized that much." said Tomoko, glancing over her shoulders, before dashing away with more speed leaving the village with Shinta following her.

"Still, I don't think he will follow us. And stop calling me sis." She added angrily as the two entered the woods at the same time.

"How will we meet Ryu-san and Shinichi?"

"If they were smart they would have left the village with a hostage."

"Unfortunately neither Ryu-san nor Shinichi are known for doing smart things." said Shinta, making a funny face at the thought of the possible catastrophes those two may have caused.

"Exactly, which is why I suspect they will have found the only one hostage who either doesn't know the location of the Infinite City or won't tell anything."

She laughed hollowly as she jumped from the next tree branch. "Maybe even both, who knows? Or they didn't even manage to find a hostage, right now."

"We will see, sis." Shinta ignored the glare as he sped up and shot past her, landing on a small spot of grass.

He brought his hand over his eyes, looking past the trees where he could see a few movements.

"Well…I'll be damned…." he said, looking genuinely surprised.

Tomoko landed next to him, following his gaze with interest.

"Well there is a third person with them, let us hope he can give some useful information."

"That would be too good to be true." sighed Shinta, now speeding up again and both Sound Shinobi reached the spot of their companions in only a minute.

Ryu looked extremely annoyed while he glared at the old man they had bound to a tree, giving them a quick nod as acknowledgement.

"So how does it go?" asked Tomoko, looking curiously at the old man, his white beard having several reddish parts, no doubt his own blood, several missing teeth and numerous cuts all over his body, but to her great surprise (and Ryu's annoyance), a small smirk on his face.

"Never will I tell you good for nothing bastards the location of the Infinite City." he spat, no doubt for the hundredth time.

"We have found the most stubborn, old geezer in the whole freaking universe." growled the archer, "He won't tell us a thing and believe me, I tortured him quite a bit."

"You have to press the right buttons, Ryu. Otherwise you will always fail." She looked at the man again, who was glaring at them.

"What does he say?"

"Only crap about honour and morals, pah! Can I kill him?"

Shinta walked to the man and leaned down, coming on eyelevel.

"Hey old man, what is your reason for being so stubborn? As soon as you tell us the whereabouts of the entrance, we are going to set you free."

"You hooligans wouldn't understand, so just go ahead and kill me. I would rather die then betray the Rebellion." Spat the man, coughing. His dark eyes, perhaps kind and cheerful most of the times were now sparkling with fury.

"Our sons and daughters have been fighting for the good of all of us, risking their lives. How could I betray our saviours, our children for my health? And now I should tell you, Phobos' henchman the very entrance, so you could attack them? I think not."

Shinta looked at him for a few seconds before forming slowly a few hand seals. After finishing them he looked sadly at the man.

"You are a brave man," he said "and I respect you courage and determination, but I am afraid we are in need of that particular intelligence, so I beg your forgiveness. Not that it matters, then you will only be a babbling idiot after I am finished with you so I would ask you to tell me before you force me to use my technique."

The old man stared at the young kid, how old could he be? Sixteen at most and yet he was already doing this unforgivable deeds, Phobos was indeed corrupting everyone.

And that was the reason why he couldn't tell them the location. If they entered the Infinite City, they would catch the Rebellion of guard and he couldn't let that happen. He was one of the few who knew a few of the entrances and he would sooner die then tell them.

"I am sorry for you youngsters." He responded, now grinning again. "But this stubborn old timer has one last job yet to fulfil and that is to keep the secrets, no matter what you do, I will protect that knowledge."

"What a waste." Was the only thing Shinta said and he touched the forehead of the old man with both of his hands.

He closed his eyes as he forcefully entered the mind of the old man, searching for a few seconds, before being thrown out after a few seconds.

He opened his eyes, shocked that this…this geezer actually had the mental strength to throw out someone of his calibre but then realized something.

"He is dead." said Shinta, standing up. "Somehow, he died in the process of me entering his mind."

"You mean his heart couldn't take it?" asked Tomoko, scratching her chin.

Shinta shrugged, looking sadly at the old man, who was still smirking, the last expression he had, frozen on his face for eternity.

"Stupid man, it was futile." cursed Shinta, "Your death was in vain, gramps. Noble, but in vain, you were furiously thinking to protect it but you were still thinking about it, so it was the first thing I saw."

A firm hand placed itself on Shinta's shoulder and when he looked up he realized it was Shinichi's.

"Do not despair, Shinta-kun." Spoke the swordsman solemnly, "He died a hero's death, just like a true man. Even though we fight on different sides I cannot help but admire his strength of will. We are honoured having found such a strong enemy."

It was in times like these when Shinta appreciated having Shinichi in the team but the snort of Ryu drew the attention of him away.

"Strong opponent? He was an old man, not even a threat for a Genin, let alone us."

"It is sad to see that you, my friend, cannot see the value of a man's inner strength."

"I'll give you some inner strength." said Ryu dangerously, his patience already being at his end with spending such a troublesome time with idiots, mallet heads and Shinichi.

Shinichi unsheathed his katana and readied himself.

"I, Shinichi Hikaru, accept your challenge. My noble edge is waiting for you, my brave friend, to prove that all your actions will be futile."

"Good grief," sighted Tomoko, standing up. "Let's just go to the Infinite City…"

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"So the old dude sent us on another quest without telling us exactly what we should expect. For an omnipotent being he sure is close mouthed." complained Irma, after stepping out of the fold, as she looked at her surroundings. The fold, as Irma was the last one, closed behind her leaving the five girls alone.

As much as she could tell they were at a coast, with a high cliff with several plants and the azure blue ocean. She could make out some large buildings, apparently hotels in the distance and with the hope to know the place she turned to Taranee, who had entered the fold as the first.

As expected Irma wasn't disappointed.

"We're in Turkey." said Taranee carefully, fanning herself with her hand, surprised by the sudden change of temperature to thirty-two degrees.

"How would you know?" asked Hay Lin amazed, gazing down the cliff, feeling the warmth of the blazing sun.

"I swallowed the geography book and memorized every place on earth mentioned in books." said Taranee dryly and groaned when she saw four shocked/scared/amazed/disgusted faces of her friends.

"That was a joke…, I was here before, three years ago my family spent their holidays her, in one of the many hotels."

"Nice," complimented Will, relieved that her friend did not memorize all geography books on earth, now feeling silly for believing it. At the same time she cursed the fact that she was wearing her usual pink jacket, but it was better then two other options; naked and in Guardian form, both of them should be avoided in public, no matter their position on earth.

Even in holiday zones it was risky to appear as giant fairies, with the exception being Rio in Carnival.

"So where should we go? All he said was that we would find our teacher in the most magical place in this area."

Cornelia sighing while looked at Taranee.

"Well, I do hope you know some magical spots around here, preferably near the beach."

Taranee smiled and kicked a stone down the cliff, watching the stone hitting the water.

"Coincidently, I know. Well I am not sure, but I can't think of another spot. We had many sight seeing tours and there are two places that could be magical.

One; the old Byzantine ruins of the old city and two, there is this cave, called "the Cave of the Seven Sleepers" where seven Christian men should have slept for centuries."

Will thought for a moment before pulling out the Heart.

"My guess is the cave and the way Tara explained, I think she has the same opinion."

"Your guess is as good as ours," confirmed Irma, "and seeing that Tara backs you up it would be even better."

With a flash of pink the girls transformed into their Guardian forms, now sticking out even more in the landscape.

"I know this isn't really undercover but hey, it is better then to walk there, wherever there is…"

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To be busy, it could be a good thing or it could be bad, it differed from situation to situation, and just now being busy with the task of occupying a few dozen mutant animal-things five times his size, Sasuke couldn't help but put this into the category of bad things.

Those … well, beings were quite fast and most of them, if not all, had claws. Big, sharp, dangerous, and sometimes even poisonous claws.

And speed combined with poisonous claws is nothing to wish for in an opponent, even less if there are about thirty of them.

So Sasuke had to use everything in his repertoire to prevent being caught and until now, he was doing a pretty good job.

The forest they were in was burning, the smoke and fire was making it easy for him to ambush them from time to time and it was partly covering his scent as they had pretty good noses.

So with a clever combination of kunai traps, exploding tags and snake summons he was fairing rather well, not having a serious injury so far.

One of the non poisonous natives hat hit him at the back and while he could have normally dodged such a fast but inefficient strike, the fact that the beast was able to bend his arm like a kraken caught him of guard and he had to pay for such a mistake.

Still, he was not out of harm's way, they were really persistent and durable, having hard skin/scales and tough attitudes was one of the reasons why his attacks were not that damaging to them, he simply had few ways of dealing serious damage without using much chakra, so far the only things effective were the Fire techniques and precisely aimed strikes with his sword.

Right now, he was sitting on a tree, gazing through the branches, looking out for more of the beasts, knowing that every second they chased him, his mistress would have more time to conquer the Heart, then she would provide him with power, the power to defeat his brother…

He jumped down, smeared a bit of blood on the summoning tattoo on his right arm and summoned a huge snake, one of the size that he had once encountered in the chunin exams.

This was bound to attract their attention and even though this had cost him a great deal of his chakra, seeing how this gigantic serpent rampaged through the forest and his habitants, he decided that it was worth it.

Now he could relax a bit, he needed this small break, a summon of that size was rather chakra consuming, even more if he had spent the better part of the last hour to hurling fireball after fireball.

The young avenger was sure, that with his Chidori he would have been able to kill them, but there was no way that he would be able to use that move so many times.

The gigantic snake hissed and smashed a few trees with his monstrous body, the angry and fearful groans and grunts of the Zoans alongside with the sound of the fire and the crumbling forest ground and trees created a symphony of destruction, letting Sasuke smile and his cursed seal started pulsating again, flooding him with the feeling of power, the power over others, enough power to destroy a certain man…

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Night, few things had been aligned with dark matter as it was with the night, the time where the ruthless and vile persons seemed to plot their foul schemes, it was almost cliché.

Yet, in the Hidden Leaf Village, at night, deep in one of the old buildings were two people, different and similar in more then one aspect.

The building itself was impressive, inside of it was a great, gloomy hall, with several columns holding the ceiling in place, of course it was Japanese style. Several floors were crossing in each other and the place the two were meeting was the one in the lowest stage, the younger one kneeling in front of the old man.

His face was covered in bandages, together with his right eye and a scar in form of an X was decorating his chin. His right arm was apparently missing and he was supporting his body with a cane he was holding with his left, functioning arm. The dark and white clothes formed a nice contrast with his intentions.

The boy kneeling in front of him wore dark clothing as well, but in a more…unusual manner.

He wore a forehead protector of the Hidden Leaf Village on his forehead and his clothes were disturbingly revealing his stomach, also his left sleeve was way shorter then his right and even though most Shinobi settle for dark clothing every piece he wore was black, except the forehead protector and the sword stripped on his back.

"You have been informed about the current situation and I have already arranged things such that you will be placed in that team with Elyon." Spoke the man with the stoic expression.

"In addition to your age not being much different from Queen Elyon Brown, you are also the strongest one of your generation in the Village… and above all else that wonderful artistic taste of yours is simply breathtaking."

He pointed with his cane at the young boy.

"From this day until the end of the mission you will be known as Sai."

The boy smiled falsely and nodded.

"Sai…as you wish."

The man frowned, his old face looking slightly disturbed.

"There is no need for you to use such a fake smile in my presence." scolded the old man.

"My apologies…, the manual I've been reading said that the first thing needed to gain a person's favour is a smile…, I have been practicing but still…,"

The smile faded and he looked emotionless at his superior.

"I find myself incapable of properly producing this thing called an expression…"

This let the man smile genuinely, "You are to accompany and protect the Queen, finally our world is part of the great changing's again and we have to ensure the leaf's safety in those times. Do not fail on your mission."

"As you wish…Danzo-sama…"

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They had been flying for about thirty minutes when they landed again, now having put quite the distance to their point of arriving, near the mountains.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" asked Hay Lin, seeing a few ruins and a lot of tourists in the distance.

"Yes, the cave was only a few kilometres away from here."

"So basically speaking, it could be anywhere in a five kilometre radius?"

"That pretty much covers it."

"Ok, Will, you transform me back." interfered Irma, "and then I will go there and ask for some directions."

"Because you speak Turkish so fluently." said Cornelia sarcastically.

"Or they understand English, seeing that this is a tourist centre and all."

"She is right, you know." said Taranee, watching how Irma transformed back into her normal form, grinning confidently. With a small wink she started jogging toward the pile of tourists.

She arrived there only a couple of minutes later, sweating like after a marathon, running with many clothes in this heat surely wasn't one of her brightest ideas.

Irma approached a bulk of tourists, who, to her luck, were apparently speaking English since the guide was using that language.

After he finished his speech about the history of the old bath house, she walked to him, asking him about the directions. The guide told her, that the cave, indeed, was a tourist attraction around here and its location is about six kilometres in the east.

After thanking the man and returning to her friends, they took off again, carefully avoiding being seen. Somehow, Will couldn't explain it; they managed to arrive at a cave. It looked like a normal cave, except the fact that it was supposed to be a tourist attraction and the total lack of any humans within sight was more then suspicious.

When Taranee pointed this out, the other girls had already noticed this, looking around warily.

"Well, I can only guess, but this may be the work of the Oracle." suggested Will, "You know, like letting us enter this with peace and without worries."

"Or it is a bad season for magical caves." joked Irma, glancing inside the cave.

"Do we simply enter or is there something like a Stargate?"

"Hay Lin, I don't think we will use a Stargate, or anything similar."

"Sometimes a cave is just a cave." philosophised Irma, entering the cave with sudden bravado. It was dark and as normal as cave could get, somehow she was disappointed, having expected something more impressing. When Cornelia, as the last one, entered the world seemed to take off like plane; at least that was how the Guardians felt when a sudden yank went through the ground, resulting in an ungraceful fall of the Guardians.

"Or a cave is a magical loon zone." muttered Will, standing up slowly, now noticing several changes at the place. Firstly it was much bigger now, having roughly a radius of one hundred meters, the walls had strange symbols in a specific order, one every five meters.

"How cliché." commented Irma, gazing at the surroundings. "They've got everything; runes, torches and a scary echo. The only thing missing is a magical lamp guarded by ancient and powerful protectors."

The woman, gazing into on of her countless discusses of energy, smiled. How very convenient that she said just that, well it would be very bad to disappoint them. If ancient and powerful protectors are what they wanted then that was what they would get. She wasn't a bad host after all and had to respect the wishes of her guests.

Yet you should always be careful what you wished for, how very true that old saying was. Indeed, they could become true.

She looked back, at the seven figures standing behind her, nodding at the one on the left. The one, a man wearing the full, silver armour of a knight of the thirteenth century, said nothing but sunk slowly in the ground, only to reappear a few seconds later in front of the Guardians.

The girls, not as shocked about the appearance of someone from the ground as one would think, watched in awe as the man drew his sword, a wonderfully crafted, double edged claymore and lifted his shield with the left hand.

"Until here and not further, vile witches, Sir Hastings shall be your opponent, one of many on the top of that, and he will not receive a defeat."

"This will turn out nasty, right?" asked Irma, really hoping that this wouldn't be the case.

"It is up to you, I have objections of fighting girls and will let you retreat in peace but I shall not back down if you make the mistake of fighting."

"Any plans?" asked Taranee, overcoming the shock of facing a knight, there shouldn't be that many left and they met one here on the top, this was really not their week.

"Hit him with everything we got until he stops moving?" suggested Will carefully, not really in the mood of thinking otherwise. Also this guy was alone and was using sword and shield, how dangerous could he get?

Cornelia seemed to think along the same lines as she started to speak not a second later.

"You think of fighting us at once? You and what army?"

Famous last words.

"I take this as an intention to fight." said Sir Hastings. "Indeed, I have no army to my disposal, but on the other hand, I don't really need one."

He slammed his sword into the ground, creating an energy wave which burst the ground open, shooting towards the Guardians.

Cornelia reacted just in time and raised an earth wall and shielded them from the devastating attack.

"What happened to chivalry?" asked Will angrily, "Aren't you supposed to let ladies attack first."

"My good girl, this is a battle, not a ball." said the knight, apparently amused of the childish thoughts of the Guardians. "Your goal is to defeat me and mine is to defeat you, by all means, there is no need for me to let you attack me first, since you outnumber me."

The girls all took battle stances, now ready for the fight.

"I see, you accepted to fight, then let the trial of the Seven Sleepers begin!" he yelled, thrusting his sword and letting a wave of energy fly at the girls…

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"… and that's how the things are." Tsunade finished explaining and leaned back in her chair, tapping the desk with her fingers. Yan Lin, sitting in a chair next to her was watching the young man standing in front of them closely. Those masks the ANBU were wearing had always fascinated her. The impassive look of the mask, the creation of a second identity, the responsibility, it reminded her of her former Guardian duties.

"So you will be put in charge of Team Elyon, even though you have no real command over Queen Elyon. Originally I wanted Kakashi to lead this team as tracking is one of his many specialities but since his presence is needed in Meridian you will take his place. Inuzuka Kiba will be part of your team, as will Rock Lee." continued Tsunade.

"Acting as a replacement for my old senior Kakashi of all people, this is an honour indeed." said the member of ANBU, shifting his weight from the left leg to the right.

"This is not an ANBU mission but a normal one, as such you will take off your mask and I will assign you a codename. For the duration of the mission you will call yourself Yamato."

The ANBU took of his mask, revealing the face of a relative young man in his early twenties, who was smiling.

"Understood, Tsunade-sama."

"The mission will be protecting Queen Elyon and Matt Olsen from any harm and locating Jiraya of the legendary three ninja and his pupil Uzumaki Naruto, so that the seal which hinders Queen Elyon's powers will be erased."

Yamato nodded and looked then at Yan Lin, who had cleared her throat, apparently to say something.

"Matt might be a bit impulsive at times, but I am sure you will find him useful. If you can try to teach him a few things so that he may defend himself better, I have reason to think he has lost confidence in his abilities since he is dealing with enemies much stronger then himself."

"Yes Yan Lin-sama."

"And one more thing." added Tsunade. "One more person, a recruit from the ANBU training division of Roots will be placed in Team Elyon, so pay close attention to his behaviour."

"Why is that?"

"The recruit is one that Danzou recommended. The man called Danzou was a hawk in the past, standing in opposition to the Third. Within ANBU he created the ANBU training division of Roots as a detached force and acted as its head. Surely you have heard of his name at least?"

"Aren't you worrying a bit too much?" asked Yamato sceptically.

"One can never be cautious enough." said the former Air Guardian. "There are many signs for an upcoming chaos and there is no need to let another catastrophe happen."

"Well, it is quite the honour for me to guard the Queen of a planet."

"You were chosen since you had the best record within the ANBU so we have no worries, anyhow, go and introduce yourself to the team."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three hours later, Elyon Brown, freshly released from the hospital, stepped into the clearing in the training grounds where she was supposed to meet the members of the team which will accompany her in her unusual quest.

From the distance she can see two people there; one completely dressed in different shades of green and an orange blur on his legs and a familiar shape, namely Matt.

She starts to walk faster and reached them quickly, unfortunately she has to realize that the green figure was a nicer sight from the distance as the boy demonstrated why people with a bad taste for fashion shouldn't be allowed to buy clothes on their own.

Yet Elyon had learned the hard way not to judge people based on their appearance as she met handsome humans who were fouler creatures within then many monsters. So she was curious how her first real and friendly meeting with a ninja would go.

Kakashi didn't really count as all he did was attack her, hopefully this time it would be a bit more peaceful.

Only a little bit of peace, was that too much to ask for?

You would think the life of a Queen, a young one at that, would be more merry but Elyon had given up that childish dream long ago, as much as it first started as a fairytale, discovering that she was the Queen of a foreign Kingdom, yet it turned out to be a nightmare; her brother trying to kill her, the handsome man who introduced her was in reality a snake hybrid and the kingdom, or more precisely the planet, was widely known as the planet of evil.

Realizing that she had a life out grossing most stories she has read Elyon decided to face anything this new team and this new dimension might throw at her, what could be more horrible then High School mathematics anyways?

"Hey your highness." greeted Matt, looking tired, the headache he received from Lee's devastating kick was still bothering him and had not let him rest peacefully.

"You know that you should call me Elyon." scolded the young Queen, "Very few people do it nowadays and I miss it."

"As you wish… your highness." grinned Matt and had at least the decency to look ashamed after receiving Elyon's glare.

"Anyways, I am proud to introduce Lee to you. Lee this is Queen Elyon Brown, the ruler of the planet, or realm whatever you like more, Meridian."

Lee bowed formally and Elyon was surprised to see such good manners, the few ninja she had met were a bit more then rude.

"It is an honour to meet you Queen Elyon-sama; I shall vow to protect you until my very last breath."

Elyon exchanged an uneasy glance with Matt but to her surprise the Regent didn't roll his eyes or look amused, instead he looked as if he would have expected this statement.

"Ahem, I…I feel flattered but I don't think it will come to that." said Elyon, how should she response to that? It was not an every day event that someone you just meet vowed to protect you until death.

Maybe it was a ninja thing.

"But it certainly will." Came a happy voice from behind and the three hurled around to face the next member of their team.

A boy with red triangles on his cheeks and mostly black clothing neared, wearing his Hidden Leaf forehead protector on his forehead. Yet the most noticeable thing was that he was riding a white dog, a really huge white dog.

While this surprised Elyon and Matt, you can get used too many things but seeing a dog the size of a polar bear wasn't that usual, Lee simply greeted him.

"It is a good thing to see you Kiba-kun."

"Hey Lee, what's up? Life treating ya good?"

"How can I be in a sullen mood at such a nice day? Akamaru-kun really has grown."

"I don't know about that." muttered Kiba, patting his faithful dog on the hand. "Still good, ol' Akamaru to me."

Before they could acquaintance themselves with him, two figures appeared in their midst, revealing a man in his early twenties and a boy of their age, who had an obvious and clearly annoying fake smile on his face.

"Well, well, it seems you are all ready to go."

"Who the heck are you?" barked Kiba, annoyed at the unnecessarily, show-up appearance.

"I am the Squad Leader of Team Elyon, Yamato, and this is the third member of the team, named Sai."

"What is with Tenten?" asked Lee confused, "Yesterday it was her who was supposed to come with us."

"Drastic change of plans, Lee-san. She was appointed another mission and we got Sai here as replacement."

Lee was obviously disappointed but didn't say anything as did Kiba but he did glare at them.

"So, before we head off I would like to say something, as you all know it is a bit unusual to form a team like this, normally we would undergo a few days of training to know each other and develop adequate teamwork, but right now we simply don't have the time. I don't expect you to like each other, I know there are often rivalries, but for the sake of the mission behave civil."

He stopped for a moment as if he wanted to say another thing but ended without saying anything further.

"Are you guys ready?" The boys nodded and he turned to Elyon.

"Elyon-sama, I was told you would be able to fly, is that correct?"

The young Queen nodded and levitated a few meters, while she was watched by Kiba and Lee in obvious awe, while Sai had still the same smile on his face.

"You can do that too, can't you?" he asked Matt who nodded.

"Okay;" said Yamato, content with it. "We will head off right now."

Matt took this moment as his clue to transform and once again the sight of the "Angel of Malice" appeared in the mortal world.

Kiba and Yamato were evidently impressed, yet Sai not so much, as the next seconds proved.

"Guess you can look like a man after all."

While this was the first thing to annoy most of the group, it was certainly not the last.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Whew, and I thought Phobos was a hard enemy." cursed Will, angry that the knight in front of her blocked another lighting bolt with his shield.

Cornelia, palms touching the ground, letting a few boulders fly at the Sir Hastings, only to see how he sliced them in two with his sword, while dodging the attacks of Hay Lin and Irma, agreed.

"At least Phobos didn't have indestructible armour and matching weapons."

Taranee, engulfing the knight with fire only to see how he marches through it without trouble flies next to Will, looking slightly panicked.

"Will, what can we do?"

"I don't know none of our attacks are working!"

"Maybe only the real classic attacks will be working?"

Will and Taranee turned around to look at Hay Lin, who was rather busy creating a vortex of air and hurling it at the perpetrator and groaning in frustration as he blocked that attack too.

"What do you mean?"

"Well it is rather obvious that he is really, really immune to our elemental attacks."

"Wow Hay Hay, how did you notice?" joked Irma from the sidelines, trying stopping the knight from coming nearer with a constant steam of water.

"But think of it, he can't be immune to all kind of attacks, maybe only to elemental attacks."

The young Air Guardian was disappointed to see that Taranee was disagreeing.

"What we use are physical attacks and until now it seems that we can't crack that shell."

"Maybe we don't have to." wondered Will, realizing an opening. "Corny, open a hole under him, bury him alive!"

Ignoring the cursed nickname, she made a wide step and made a pushing down motion with her arm, causing the earth the knight was standing at to sink rapidly until he was five meters under the earth. Before he could even attempt to climb up, Cornelia straightened the walls in his earth hole, making it impossible.

"Way to go Corny." cheered Irma as she landed next to the hole and clapped her on the shoulder. "Trapped him with a classic hole, guess Hay Lin was right after all. Let's just a add a nice touch to it"

She conjured a steam of water out of her hand and started to fill the hole with it, ignoring the surprised faces of her friends.

"You do realize that he can't swim with that armour, do you?" said Will slowly.

"Relax red, Hay Lin is going to freeze him there, we can't risk him doing some weird trick to catch us off guard."

Hay Lin, having seen through her friend earlier than the others smiled, took a deep breath and froze the water when it reached the tip of the helmet.

"Well this was surprisingly easy." stated Cornelia, looking extremely relieved.

"I was afraid that this guy would be a lot harder to deal with but I guess he only got some fancy weapons."

"Now, now dear, what gave you that idea?"

The girls spun around to look at the strange knight, seeing him standing firmly in front of them, his armour looking unfazed and his sword pointing towards Cornelia.

Irma turned back to the hole and wasn't surprised to see only the ice.

"How did you get out?"

"You see, I would tell you, but since I am trying to kill you it would be highly stupid of me to reveal the techniques which are saving me."

"We are in trouble girls." whispered Irma, "That guy is not a moron."

"Have a Plan B?"

"I would really let you plan but I think I will just kill you and get my break."

"You want a break, tin box? I will give you a break!"

Cornelia pushed both of her arms forward and let two vines burst out next to her, slithering fast towards the knight, grabbing him by the ankles and lifting him so fast that he dropped his sword and shield.

Making the motions with her hands the ranks started to whirl Hastings around and after a few seconds of whirling they slammed him hardly against the wall, leaving a clear imprint of his armour.

"This fancy metal coat may protect you from any damage but when I continue this, it will injure you, no matter how strong it is."

When the ranks started to whirl again the Knight reacted and out of the sword another beam shot out and cut the ranks, setting him free again.

As he quickly recovered his weapons he knew he was now in serious trouble. The Earth Guardian seemed to be the most dangerous Guardian, right now her attacks and abilities were the only one working against him.

So the logical thing to do was to kill her first.

He dashed towards her, attempting to strike her down but was stopped by Will, who had grabbed his arm, using her superior strength to prevent him from attacking.

"No stabbing here pal!"

_She is strong…_ thought Hastings as he tried to free his arm, without his armour, so he was sure, she would have crushed his arm, a terrifying power on a young girl.

"I see hurling some lighting bolts isn't your only ability." He slammed his shield into her stomach and managed to struggle free.

"Well then, show me the true power of a Guardian."

"I am happy to." An almost too cheerful voice came from behind him. 

He whirled around to see nothing but then Hay Lin became visible again and started a small whirlwind, trapping the knight in the middle.

"You know that in the eye of the storm, there is no air to breath."

She maintained the small tornado for a few more seconds and then stopped, seeing the first member of the seven sleepers fall unspectacularly to the ground.

"I guess that's it." stated Will, kicking the sword and shield away from him.

"Well, if there are seven sleepers, we should see six more."

"Right Tara, spoil the moment, really it's fine."

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Well, I hope you liked it, as I am not that content with it. I have rewritten this chapter about a dozen times, unsure whether to add Sai or not or use a completely different way for the trial, to let them fight all seven at the same time but then I decided to take this version.

As you see, we are now entering the Naruto Universe and don't worry, as up now, things will not continue as in the manga but there will be spoilers from now on, so, when you have not read the most recent chapters of Naruto, I advise you to read it until I get the next chapter if you don't want to read it here.

For the question why I will not follow the manga, it is really simple; I dislike where this leads to. Sasuke seems way too strong, Kabuto is an Orochimaru fanatic and Naruto is an idiot who turns berserk and charges every single time he sees an opponent without any teamwork. So be ready for major AU.

Have fun in the new year.


End file.
